Date: Friday, December 12, 2025
Speaker: Benjamin Singer, DPhil
Title: Modelling the post-COVID-19 pandemic re-emergence of respiratory viruses in Southern California
Abstract: Many respiratory viruses which were suppressed during the COVID-19 pandemic have re-emerged, sometimes with different epidemiology compared to a normal respiratory season. I have developed a compartmental model to help understand the transmission dynamics which led some viruses to cause outbreaks at different times of year, of different sizes, and affecting different age groups than usual, while other viruses had very similar epidemiology to the pre-COVID-19 period. This generates insight into the age structure of infection and disease for common respiratory viruses.
Bio: Ben is an infectious disease modeler based at the University of California, Berkeley. After receiving his doctorate from the University of Oxford for a thesis titled “Metapopulation models for pandemic risk and control,” he moved to the Bay Area to pursue postdoctoral research. Here, he has contributed to a range of projects at Berkeley, UCSF, and Stanford in the control of neglected tropical diseases, antimicrobial resistance, sexually transmitted infections, and respiratory viruses.
Special Brief Presentation Following Webinar
After the webinar, there will be a brief special talk about the CDC Steven M. Teutsch Prevention Effectiveness Fellowship Program.