About

Hi and welcome!

I study how pathogens evolve and spread to help us understand how to better control and prevent infectious diseases. I also study how surveillance approaches, such as genomics and wastewater, can help us better quantify disease prevalence.

I am currently a researcher at the Statens Serum Institute, the national public health research institute of Denmark. I am part of the Section of Viral Genomics in the Department of Virology and Microbiological Preparedness where I contribute to developing new methods for viral surveillance and perform research on viral evolution and transmission.

Previously, I was a postdoctoral fellow working with Dr. Yonatan Grad in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and affiliated with the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics. I studied how Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacterium causing the sexually-transmitted infection gonorrhea, undergoes variation of its surface antigens to evade recognition by the human adaptive immune system while maintaining the ability to bind to human cells. I also assessed the equitability of wastewater surveillance of infectious diseases. My work combined whole genome sequencing, analysis of genomic data, and mathematical modeling of infectious diseases.

I completed my PhD with Dr. Oskar Hallatschek at UC Berkeley, where I studied how spatial structure affects the way that microbes evolve. In particular, I developed a new microscopy method to study genetic drift in microbial colonies. I also developed a statistical inference method that uses longitudinal genomics data to infer the extent of randomness in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. I used a combination of microbiology experiments, microscopy, statistical inference, and population genetics modeling in my PhD work.

During my PhD, I had the opportunity to be a National Science Policy Network Scholar-in-Residence where I completed a short internship with the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics, and Policy (now the One Health Trust). I contributed to policy briefs on national action plans on antimicrobial resistance in Mali, Kenya, and Malawi.

I completed my undergraduate degree in physics, where I did research in astronomy, atomic, molecular, and optical physics, and condensed matter physics.

Before starting my PhD, I spent a year developing an affordable science teaching lab model with the university program Kepler in Kigali, Rwanda. I am passionate about science communication and outreach and regularly give talks and write for a general public audience.

I am always excited to talk about, learn about, and collaborate on any of these topics, so please don’t hesitate to reach out to chat!