The Fox lab (https://thefoxlab.wordpress.com/) was established at the University of Georgia in Fall of 2022 with the focus on understanding and forecasting infectious disease dynamics to improve public health outcomes and policies. We specialize in integrating population-level infectious disease data with epidemiological models through statistical analysis and simulation, and we primarily work on respiratory viruses like influenza and COVID-19 (though we dabble in other emerging infectious diseases from time to time as outbreaks arise).
There is no specific project for this position, but rather the postdoctoral associate will work with PI Fox to develop a research agenda together during the application process. The lab is currently working on a few different projects that might be of interest to potential researchers including: (1) integrating social media data and psychological dynamics into epidemiological models for understanding COVID-19 and mPox transmission; (2) Estimating the interactions between co-circulating respiratory diseases and the impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions; (3) designing and optimizing genomic surveillance systems; and (4) infectious disease forecasting, including thinking about data, models, and evaluation metrics. These projects are all based on public health needs exposed during the pandemic and span from basic research understanding epidemiological dynamics to applied research working directly with public health officials and decision-makers.
Please reach out to Spencer over email (sjfox@uga.edu) with any questions you may have about the position either before or after applying.
