Student Corner - Winter 2008/2009
A student internship program to generate evidence about the H1N1 influenza virus that can guide public health practice
Kate Zinszer has worked as a public health epidemiologist and has since returned to school as a PhD candidate in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health at the University of McGill. Her thesis will focus on predictors of emerging vector-borne diseases and the evaluation of associated interventions
In response to the H1N1 Flu Virus pandemic, a Canadian internship program has been developed by the Canadian Consortium for Pandemic Preparedness Modeling (CanPan) and hosted by researchers at the University of British Columbia, the University of Toronto, and McGill University. The internships are three months in duration and there are currently 15 students stationed in Montreal, Toronto, or Vancouver. These students have graduate or post-doctoral training in mathematical epidemiology and/or quantitative surveillance methods. The internship is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Public Health Agency of Canada, and is in collaboration with the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion, and the Montreal Public Health Department.
The collective skill sets of the interns and their supervisors (Dr. Babak Pourbohloul, Dr. David Fisman, and Dr. David Buckeridge) are answering epidemiological, policy, and evaluation questions surrounding the H1N1 Flu Virus with a different focus at each site. The Vancouver site is assessing optimal vaccination strategies and optimal outbreak management strategies in preparation for the 2010 Olympic games, the effectiveness of individuals’ behavioural changes and self-isolation, ethics and transmission dynamics, and a cost-effectiveness analysis of vaccination strategies. The Toronto site is investigating the projection and evaluation of the H1N1 strain and its impact on key health care resources (e.g., intensive care unit beds), vulnerable populations and pandemic preparedness (e.g., First Nations), and the evolutionary aspects of influenza virus epidemiology. The Montreal site is examining the integration of real-time flu surveillance data to estimate infection rates, using this data to mathematically model the severity, transmissibility, and progression of the epidemic.
One student involved in this internship program, Aman Verma, is a doctoral student in epidemiology at McGill and is based in Montreal for his internship. Aman has a background in computer science, and after completing an internship with the Pan American Health Organization in Suriname, shifted his focus to health informatics. Aman stated, “I am excited to work on this internship because it provides me with an interesting opportunity to work with public health departments. It is satisfying to be involved in research that public health departments can directly apply to improve population health.”
The interns are applying their analytical skills to generate evidence that public health decision-makers and health practitioners can use to tackle the H1N1 Flu Virus. This is an excellent example of a partnership between academia and public health!