Image: Jointly with Dr. Eben Kenah at Ohio State University (lead PI), Drs. Yang Yang and Liang Liuwere awarded a five-year R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a project entitled, "Phylogenetics, causal inference, and model diagnostics for longitudinal studies of infectious disease transmission and control". This project will develop analytic, diagnostic, and causal inference tools for studying the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases in environments with a clearly-defined population at risk, such as households, hospitals, schools, workplaces, and prisons. In other news, Dr. Yang recently collaborated with Dr. Song Liang from University of Massachusetts—Amherst, Dr. Calistus Ngonghala from University of Florida, and Dr. Mayassa Salum Ally from the Zanzibar Health Research Institute, to organize an NSF-sponsored workshop on Modeling Infectious Disease Transmission and Control with a Focus on Schistosomiasis. The workshop took place in July 2025 in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Using Schistosomiasis and Malaria as primary case studies, this event brought together early-career researchers, public health professionals, and interdisciplinary experts from Cameroon, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania and Thailand to enhance their practical skills in mathematical modeling, geospatial statistics, and policy translation through interactive lectures, hands-on sessions, panel discussions and fieldwork. Type of News/Audience: Departmental
