Background and Purpose

The spread of an infectious disease involves many factors such as the agent (virus, bacteria, etc.), the host, and the environment in which transmissions take place. The purpose of modeling infectious diseases, in relation to public health, is to evaluate the process of disease spread and the most effective interventions required. Mathematical modeling of infectious diseases is growing in importance because of the various issues in disease spread and control arising from new or newly emerging diseases (e.g., SARS, dengue, Ebola, avian influenza, Zika, etc.), and because increasing data sources are now available for studying disease transmission, pathogen evolution and the impact of social behavior of the hosts. Utilizing data sources to understand the subsequent impacts on disease spread requires detailed modeling of interactions amongst pathogens and hosts, training of sophisticated modelers and development of new mathematics.

The course is thus designed to promote interdisciplinary research in mathematical epidemiology and modeling/analysis of infectious diseases. A major component of this course is to create an environment for initiating and facilitating future interdisciplinary collaborations between infectious disease modelers and public health researcher. The central theme and aim of this networking activity is to forge strong links between theory and practice. Prospective students suitable for this course are those who have had at least 2 years of undergraduate studies in natural sciences (math, statistics, physics, etc.) or in public health/biomedical programs, and are interested in interdisciplinary research in mathematical epidemiology and modeling/analysis of infectious diseases. Graduate students, postdocs, and young researchers are most welcomed.

The course will provide exposure to students and young researchers to an interdisciplinary environment that foster cross-disciplinary interaction and networking at early stages of young researchers’ careers, and nurture future modelers of infectious diseases in Taiwan that will both contribute to interdisciplinary academic research in Taiwan, as well as to future public health policy-planning in the age of globalization.