Jennifer Head, PhD, MPH

Dr. Head examines the epidemiology of infectious diseases in response to climate variability, environmental disturbance, and host behavior, with a focus on emerging and zoonotic diseases. She uses a combination of mathematical and statistical models and field work to examine 1) how climate and other environmental factors determine the distribution of pathogens in the environment; 2) how natural and anthropogenic environmental disturbances mobilize and increase human exposure to pathogens; 3) how pathogen presence and exposure pathways interact with individual-level factors (e.g., susceptibility) to produce population-level disease patterns. Her current research focuses on understanding these pathways for environmentally-acquired primary fungal infections (i.e., those that cause disease in otherwise healthy individuals). This focus is aligned with the priorities of national and international health agencies. She collaborates widely with public health agencies, and specializes in the analysis of time series, spatial, or surveillance data.