Venue: Vari Hall, York University, Keele Street Campus
Date | Time: November 15, 2024 | 1:00-4:00 EDT
Organized by the Y-EMERGE & CDM Register Here
News
We congratulate Dr. Zhu on his achievement on receiving the prestigious 2024 CAIMS-Fields Industrial Mathematics for his exceptional research in industrial mathematics. This achievement is a testament of Dr Zhu’s continued commitment to advancing mathematical modelling and understanding of pandemic dynamics that provided timely guidance for public health policy.
Read Here: 🔗 https://caims.ca/award/caims-fields-industrial-mathematics-prize
The One Health Modelling Network for Emerging Infections, Canada’s pioneering national modelling network on One Health, and the Centre of Disease Modelling (CDM) hosted their hybrid Annual Meeting 2023-2024 on February 20-21, 2024, at the inaugural CDM OMNI-RÉUNIS Lab located at York University. The event served as a platform to disseminate the collective work, research outcomes, achievements, and overarching impacts amassed over 2.5 years. The archive of the Annual Meeting is now accessible, with the pivotal discussions and insights exchanged during this gathering.
The event commenced with welcoming remarks from the OMNI-RÉUNIS Director, Huaiping Zhu (York University), and co-directors Hélène Carabin (Université de Montréal) and Mark Lewis (University of Victoria), setting the stage for a dynamic exchange of ideas. Followed by the Distinguished Lecture by Dr. John Amuasi from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, on the “Better One Health Amidst the Great Unknown” provided invaluable insights into the interconnectedness of one Health across different domains. Lecture available here.
With 30+ in-person and 50+ online attendees of the OMNI-RÉUNIS network, participants delved into various themes and initiatives to enhance understanding and response to emerging infectious diseases using the One Health approach and mathematical modelling. Key sessions included data management, risk of emergence and spillover, early warning systems, intervention, and control, offering a comprehensive overview of ongoing research and accomplishments within the network.
A highlight of the event was the CDM/OMNI-RÉUNIS lab opening ceremony, featuring esteemed speakers including Drs. Amir Asif (Vice president of Research, York University), Rui Wang (Dean of Science), Nicholas Ogden (Public Health Agency of Canada), Kumar Murty (The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences). Their addresses highlighted the importance of collaborative research efforts in mathematical modelling in addressing pressing public health challenges.
Next were the roundtable discussions led by Professor Zhu, who provided a forum for participants to explore strategies for fostering continued collaboration and innovation within the OMNI-RÉUNIS network.
“The network has aimed to enhance early warning capabilities for emerging infectious diseases using One Health approach. We have progressed through ongoing projects focused on data portal development and management. Our current focus is on optimizing the integration of these projects to support the development of early warning capacity for emerging infectious diseases effectively”
-Dr. Huaiping Zhu, OMNI-RÉUNIS & CDM Director, York University
Another notable session was the overview of the OMNI-RÉUNIS Super Spreader Seminar Series, organized by Highly Qualified Personnel (HQPs) Joseph Baafi from Memorial University of Newfoundland, Pei Yuan, Sanaz Gholizadeh, and Yi Tan from York University.
Pei Yuan (postdoc), Sanaz Gholizadeh (Phd), and Yi Tan (Phd) from York University presented their ongoing research highlights on predictive modelling and forecasting for mosquito abundance and the risk of West Nile virus, as well as the modelling and dynamics of monkeypox spillover from reservoir hosts to target hosts.
CDM and York University have key leaders who have been crucial in building OMNI-RÉUNIS. They include:
- Huaiping Zhu (Faculty of Science), Director of CDM, Principal Investigator and Director of OMNI-RÉUNIS.
- Jane Heffernan (Faculty of Science)
- Iain Moyles (Faculty of Science)
- Hongmei Zhu (Faculty of Science),
- Aijun An (Lassonde)
- Manos Papagelis (Lassonde)
- Marina Freire-Gormaly (Lassonde)
Funded with support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), and York University’s Faculty of Science, OMNI-RÉUNIS stands as a beacon of interdisciplinary research in the field of infectious disease modelling. As the network continues to evolve and grow, its impact will undoubtedly be felt far and wide, shaping a healthier and more resilient future for all.
As OMNI-RÉUNIS enters its next phase with a commitment to excellence and collaboration, it is poised to advance infectious disease modelling significantly. This 2023-2024 OMNI-RÉUNIS Annual Meeting celebrated past achievements. It showcased collective determination to address emerging infectious diseases through interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation.
This event was led by organizers Huaiping Zhu (York University), Dr. Hélène Carabin (Université de Montréal), Dr. Mark Lewis (University of Alberta), Natasha Ketter (York University), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (York University), and Shivika Adhwaryu (York University), with special thanks for IT support provided by Steven Chen (York University).
We are delighted to announce that our OMNI-RÉUNIS Director and Principal Investigator, Dr. Huaiping Zhu, was invited to take on the role of Co-Editor-in-Chief for the ‘One Health’ journal. This journal serves as the official publication of the International Federation for Tropical Medicine.
The mission of One Health journal is to provide a platform for rapid communication of high-quality scientific knowledge on inter- and intra-species pathogen transmission, bringing together leading experts in virology, bacteriology, parasitology, mycology, vectors and vector-borne diseases, tropical health, veterinary sciences, pathology, immunology, food safety, mathematical modelling, epidemiology, public health research and emergency preparedness.
The journal operates on a Gold Open Access model, and a fee is payable on acceptance of the paper. For detailed information, please refer to the guide for authors.
Submissions in the following categories are welcome:
- Virology
- Bacteriology
- Parasitology
- Mycology
- Vectors and vector-borne diseases
- Co-infections and co-morbidities
- Disease spatial surveillance
- Modeling
- Tropical Health
- Discovery
- Ecosystem Health
- Public Health
We’re thrilled to announce that Dr. Hélène Carabin, our OMNI-RÉUNIS Co-Director and a professor at the University of Montreal’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and School of Public Health, has been elected to the prestigious US National Academy of Medicine (NAM) during their annual meeting on October 9. This is a tremendous honour in the fields of health and medicine, recognizing individuals with remarkable professional achievements and societal engagement.
Dr. Carabin is one of the very select groups of foreign experts to receive this honour among the 100 new members this year, including 10 from outside the United States. She joins 21 Canadians and 5 Quebecers who have been elected to NAM in the past and is the first affiliated with the University of Montreal.
Her work revolves around promoting “One Health,” emphasizing the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health. As the Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology and One Health, she conducts research to understand and control zoonotic diseases, contributing to a broader awareness of the One Health concept. Congratulations to Dr. Hélène for this extraordinary achievement! To learn more, please visit the official page.
Check out our research page for details!
Thank you, and we look forward to learning from you!
Organized by the OMNI-RÉUNIS members – Dr. Bouchra Narsi (University of Montréal), Dr. Jane Parmley (University of Guelph), Dr. Kamal Raj Acharya (University of Guelph) and Shivika Adhwaryu (York University).
Congratulations to Harini Kapali (University of Victoria), Francisca Olajide (University of Ottawa), Aiyush Bansal (University of Toronto), Jeta Molla, Pei Yuan, and Zahra Khanzad (York University) of Group 1 who were chosen as the winners of the $2000 publication fee grant for their research on COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths averted by masks mandate and vaccination program in Ontario.
Watch the full Health-a-thon Final Presentation event here!
For more background on the Summer Health-a-Thon:
The Summer Health-a-Thon is organized by the OMNI-RÉUNIS HQP Training Team – Dr. Jane Heffernan, Dr. Michael Kallos and Dr. Mark Lewis.
Zoom Link: https://yorku.zoom.us/j/97621700843
OMNI-RÉUNIS Health-a-thon_Final Presentations_SEPT.15_2022
The OMNI-RÉUNIS HQP Training team (Jane Heffernan, Mike Kallos, and Mark Lewis) is pleased to invite you to attend the “Summer Heath-a-thon Final Presentation Event” on September 15th from 13:00-15:00 EDT.
The ten-week Summer Health-a-thon program provided 29 trainees the opportunity to work collaboratively in groups with other EIDM trainees and researchers across Canada to work on real-world EIDM questions (with a One Health focus) provided by government and industry. The groups tackled the following:
- Group 1: A counterfactual assessment: quantifying the number of cases and death averted given the public health mitigation programs over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic
- Group 2: A Review of Monkeypox
- Group 3: Modelling Monkeypox
- Group 4: Forecasting influenza and COVID-19 infections for Fall 2022
- Group 5: Estimating the true number of COVID-19 infections
->The presentations will be judged by a panel of judges including a representative from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).
->The winning Health-a-thon project will be announced after the event! The winning team will receive a cash prize incentive of $2000 (CAD) to contribute to the publication of a paper. Not to miss!
Click the Zoom link to join on September 15 (no registration required): https://yorku.zoom.us/j/97621700843 .
If you have any questions, please contact Natasha Ketter, Program Manager of OMNI-RÉUNIS at [email protected]
Thank you for joining us!
Organized by the OMNI-RÉUNIS HQP Training Team – Dr. Jane Heffernan, Dr. Michael Kallos and Dr. Mark Lewis
Registration deadline: June 5, 2022
Health-A-Thon dates: June 13- August 26, 2022
Registration: 2022 Summer Health-A-Thon: https://forms.gle/uvX2NrVMJ93dsuq36
Trainees of the NSERC-PHAC EIDM Initiative are invited to take part in the 2022 OMNI-RÉUNIS Health-A-thon this summer. The Health-a-thon provides an opportunity for Emerging Infectious Disease Modelling (EIDM) trainees to work collaboratively in a national setting, with other EIDM trainees and researchers across Canada, on research problems that will advance federal, provincial and regional public health interests in government and industry.
The Health-a-thon is a ten-week program that runs from June to August, and provides research opportunities for EIDM trainees (postdoctoral fellows and graduate students) to work on real-world EIDM questions provided by government and industry. Trainees will work in small groups with EIDM researchers. A research question from One Health will be assigned to each group from government and industry collaborators.
First week – June 13-16, 2022-: The first Health-A-Thon meetings with trainees will take place during the CAIMS Annual Meeting (Canadian Applied and Industrial Mathematics Society). The meetings will be in a hybrid format with live streaming of talks, and both in-person and virtual poster sessions from June 13-16, 2022. Ahead of the CAIMS workshop, you will learn who will be in your group and you will be assigned a research question from One Health. As part of the first meeting, you will meet with the public health/industry representative/academic that posed the question.
June-August 2022: Each group will work collaboratively and meet regularly over the summer (via zoom and email) to provide research progress updates.
Final week – August 22-26, 2022: Final project presentations would be presented during the last week of the Health-a-Thon.
Winning Project
- The final project presentation will be presented and voted on by a panel of judges
- $2000 (CAD) will be contributed to the publication of the paper resulting from the winning health-a-thon project if it is accepted and published in a scholarly journal
If you have any questions, please contact Natasha Ketter, Program Manager of OMNI-RÉUNIS at [email protected]
Thank you for registering!
Organized by the OMNI-RÉUNIS HQP Training Team – Dr. Jane Heffernan, Dr. Michael Kallos and Dr. Mark Lewis
POSITION SUMMARY
OMNI-RÉUNIS is seeking to fill several postdoctoral fellowship positions across Canada to build capacity in modelling of infectious diseases with a one-health lens. Successful candidates will work at the interface of mathematics/statistics, epidemiology, and public health to design and analyze mathematical/statistical models through an infection spectrum from early detection to mitigation. They will work with interdisciplinary committees of scientists and public health experts to produce simulation data and inform public health policy. Postdoctoral fellows will communicate their results through high-impact publications, conference presentations, and knowledge transfer events such as public seminars and other outreach activities.
QUALIFICATIONS & SKILLS
- PhD in applied mathematics, statistics, computer science, data science or a related field (essential)
- Demonstrated mathematical modelling, statistics, or data analysis capacities using data-driven quantitative analyses, differential equations, stochastic modelling, and/or mixed-effects modelling (essential)
- Experience in epidemiology or One Health (desired)
- Good oral and written communication skills