Activities

Our research involves epidemiological studies of vaccine-preventable diseases for existing and new vaccines and developing mathematical models of how they may spread. We use these models to assess how different vaccination strategies may be used to control the infections (e.g., responding to outbreaks of rare diseases or incorporating into routine immunisation programmes for common endemic infections) and to simulate clinical trial designs to assess different pathways to vaccine licensure. We focus on different pathogens including chikungunya, Nipah, Mpox, Lassa, Ebola, severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), human papillomavirus (HPV), and Salmonella Typhi.

Education

We developed short courses on 'Introduction to infectious disease epidemiology and modelling' and 'Vaccinology: Science and Public Health'. The infectious disease epidemiology and modelling course aims to introduce how mathematical modelling is used to understand infectious disease dynamics, focusing on the contexts in which models can be used, what research questions they can answer, and the assumptions behind them. The vaccinology course aims to address both scientific and public health aspects of vaccines and immunisation and includes didactic lectures, interactive sessions and a symposium.

These courses are run jointly by the School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health (TMGH), Nagasaki University and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), in collaboration with the Nagasaki University Vaccine Research and Development Center (VRDC) – DEJIMA Infectious Disease Research Alliance (DIDA) and the Nagasaki University Global Health, World-leading Innovative & Smart Education programme (WISE).