Research

Projects

Current Projects

Spatial Shifts in HIV Epidemics in Sub-Saharan Africa

Goal: Identify and characterize evolving HIV hotspots across multiple African countries

Methods: Geostatistical interpolation, Bayesian smoothing, LLM-assisted text mining of health survey reports

Partners: University of Cincinnati, Harvard, local ministries of health

Output: Targeted maps for national program use; publications in Lancet HIV, BMJ Global Health

AI for Precision Public Health: Real-Time Risk Indicators (RTRI)
Funding: NIH (2023–2027)

Goal: Develop adaptive dashboards powered by machine learning to inform health agencies in real time

Methods: LLM-assisted EDA, unsupervised clustering of health behavior datasets, temporal anomaly detection

Impact: Pilot in U.S. urban settings for syndromic surveillance and behavioral intervention planning

Health Service Access and NCD Burden in HIV-Endemic Regions

Goal: Analyze joint burden of HIV and non-communicable diseases using population-level geospatial data

Methods: Hotspot mapping, spatial autocorrelation, multilevel modeling

Use Case: South Africa, Zambia

Past Projects (Selected)

Mapping HIV Testing Gaps in Zambia

Identified critical spatial disparities in HIV testing using DHS data. Supported targeted resource allocation for provincial health planners.

Geospatial Modeling of Malaria-HIV Co-Infection

Developed one of the first mechanistic models for disease interaction at a systems level. Helped shape understanding of interdependent disease burdens.

UNAIDS 95-95-95 Progress Mapping

Created fine-scale geospatial analysis of ART access, diagnosis rates, and viral suppression. Published results directly influencing subnational HIV programs in SSA.

Epidemic Metric Index for HIV

Proposed and validated new epidemiological indicators to prioritize intervention zones. Widely cited in strategy documents and used in dashboarding projects.

Ask about me