News at IU

IU experts available to comment on public health response to COVID-19

March 13, 2020

INDIANAPOLIS and BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The arrival of the novel coronavirus in the U.S. has sparked unprecedented action by local and national authorities working to contain the spread of the virus. Indiana University has epidemiologists and public health experts available to help put these actions into context and comment on infectious disease surveillance and management, emergency preparedness planning and response, and public health informatics related to COVID-19. For more information, contact Andrea Zeek at anzeek@iu.edu or 317-985-6004.

Shawn Gibbs

Ebola, antibiotic resistance, highly infectious disease management, biocontainment, industrial hygiene, personal protective equipment.

IU Bloomington

Phone: (812) 855-1090

Email: gibbss@indiana.edu

Expert Bio

Shawn Gibbs is a professor of environmental health and executive associate dean at the School of Public Health. (more)

Shandy Dearth

Epidemiology, infectious diseases, infectious disease surveillance, emergency preparedness planning and response, public health informatics.

IUPUI

Phone: (317) 274-2185

Email: sdearth@iu.edu

Expert Bio

Shandy Dearth has spent most of her career focusing on infectious disease surveillance, emergency preparedness planning and response, and public health informatics. Before joining the Fairbanks School of Public Health, she was the director of an international public health association that brought together public health practitioners and public health researchers who focused on health data surveillance projects. (more)

Thomas Duszynski

Local and state public health, infectious disease, epidemiology, field epidemiology, public health surveillance (the continuous, systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of health-related data needed for the planning, implementation and evaluation of public health practice), public health leadership.

IUPUI

Phone: (317) 274-4319

Email: tduszyns@iu.edu

Expert Bio

Thomas Duszynski has worked in public health for more than 20 years, starting his career as an environmental inspector for a local health department. He has served as a field epidemiologist for the Indiana State Department of Health, and in August 2005 he was named director of the field epidemiology program. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from St. Meinrad College and a Master of Public Health in epidemiology from Indiana University School of Medicine. He was a licensed Registered Environmental Health Specialist in Indiana and recent graduate of the National Public Health Leadership Institute. (more)

Yong-Yeol Ahn

Network science, complex systems, social network, network communities.

IU Bloomington

Phone: (812) 856-2920

Email: yyahn@iu.edu

Expert Bio

Yong-Yeol "YY" Ahn is an assistant professor at the Indiana University School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering and a co-founder of Janys Analytics. He develops and leverages mathematical and computational methods to study complex systems such as cells, the brain, society and culture. His recent contribution includes a new framework to identify pervasively overlapping modules in networks, network-based algorithms to predict viral memes and a new computational approach to study food culture. He is a recipient of several awards including Microsoft Research Faculty Fellowship. (more)