Rebecca Borchering, PhD
Associate Director Mathematical Statistician,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA
PhD in Mathematics, University of Florida (2017)
MS in Mathematics, University of Florida (2014)
BS in Mathematics, Arizona State University (2011)
BA in Philosophy, Arizona State University (2011)
About: Rebecca received her PhD in Mathematics from the University of Florida (UF) in 2017 and is now an infectious disease researcher and modeler working for the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the Influenza Division of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. She coordinates modeling efforts and forecasting collaborations, such as FluSight influenza forecasting. She also has interests in using multiple model projections to inform intervention and mitigation strategies. She earned a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Florida in May 2017, focusing on stochastic processes of invasion and extinction, with particular applications for seasonal rabies virus dynamics. She previously held postdoctoral positions at the Emerging Pathogens Institute and Department of Biology at the University of Florida, the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia, and the Huck Institute of Life Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University. Her research interests center around infectious disease modeling and public health applications. She is interested in the dynamics of co-circulating pathogens and her previous work includes investigating the effects of the 2015/2016 Zika epidemic in Latin America on endemic dengue dynamics and the emergence of novel influenza B viruses in the United States. While at the Pennsylvania State University, she helped lead multi-model efforts to inform decision support in the face of uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic. She worked on both the Multiple Models for Outbreak Decision Support (MMODS) and the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub projects.
Selected publications:
Borchering, Bellan, Flynn, Pulliam, McKinley. (2017) Resource-driven encounters and the induction of disease among consumers. Journal of the Royal Society Interface
Borchering, McKinley. (2018) Continuum Approximation of Invasion Probabilities. Multiscale Modeling & Simulation
Borchering, Huang, Mier-y-Teran-Romero, Rojas, Rodriguez-Barraquer, Katzelnick, Martinez, King, Cinkovich, Lessler, Cummings. (2019) Impacts of Zika emergence in Latin America on endemic dengue transmission. Nature Communications
Shea, Borchering, Probert, Howerton, Bogich, Li, van Panhuis et al. (2020) COVID-19 reopening strategies at the county level in the face of uncertainty - multiple models for outbreak decision support. medRxiv
Borchering, Gunning, Gokhale, Weedop, Saidpour, Brett, Rohani. (2021) Anomalous influenza seasonality in the United States and the emergence of novel influenza B/Victoria viruses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Borchering, Viboud, Howerton, Smith, Truelove, Reich et al. (2021) Modeling of future COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, by vaccination rates and nonpharmaceutical intervention scenarios — United States, April–September 2021. MMWR