Lihong Zhao

The central goal of my research is using mathematical, statistical, and computational techniques to better understand infectious disease epidemiology and ecology. I model infectious diseases in both human and animal populations; in addition to the transmission dynamics and population dynamics, I am also interested in incorporating social network into the structured models and studying how individual’s behavior would impact the disease dynamics. Some diseases I study, e.g., malaria, chlamydia, and valley fever, do not affect all the races equally and social conditions such as poverty are also risk factors; I would like to leverage my quantitative skills to create measurable change toward health equity.

I believe for mathematical models to be useful, they must have a solid mathematical formulation with realistic biological understanding, and mathematical results should guide the refinement of empirical studies.

In addition to developing and analyzing mathematical models, I have also gained hands-on experience in experimental design through collaboration with biologists. The empirical skills I learned from this unique experience enhanced my biological understanding and allowed me to communicate more effectively with people from different backgrounds. I would like to share my passion for mathematics with my students and engage students in a way that allows them to see how mathematics can be used to describe phenomena that they have a connection with.