Steve Bellan, MPH, PhD
Faculty Member, MMED and DAIDD clinics Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
PhD in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, UC Berkeley (2012)
MPH in Epidemiology, UC Berkeley (2008)
AB in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University (2006)
About: Steve served as the ICI3D Program Director from 2016-2018. He was involved as an organizer and instructor of the MMED and DAIDD clinics from 2009, after attending precursor workshops in 2007-2008 as a student. Steve’s background includes logistically challenging field work studying anthrax and rabies outbreaks in Namibian wildlife, as well as experience with a variety of mathematical, statistical and computational methods. His research projects span numerous pathogens and are united under the overarching theme of using mechanistic modeling and high performance computing to plan and interpret empirical studies. One of Steve’s projects centered on understanding heterogeneity in HIV transmissibility across individuals, explaining the dramatic variation in HIV epidemic severity across Africa. A second project aimed to optimally navigate the scientific and ethical tradeoffs involved in vaccine efficacy trials during emerging epidemics of pathogens such as the Ebola and Zika viruses. Steve was formerly an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Georgia.
Selected publications:
Bellan, Pulliam, Pearson, Champredon, Fox, Skrip, Galvani, Gambhir, Lopman, Porco, Meyers, Dushoff. (2015) The statistical power and validity of Ebola vaccine trials in Sierra Leone - A simulation study of trial design and analysis. Lancet Infectious Diseases
Bellan, Dushoff, Galvani, Meyers. (2015) Re-assessment of HIV-1 acute phase infectivity - adjusting for biases with simulated cohorts. PLOS Medicine
Bellan, Fiorella, Melesse, Getz, Williams, Dushoff. (2013) Extra-couple HIV transmission in sub-Saharan Africa - a mathematical modelling study of survey data. The Lancet