Dr Kathleen O'Reilly
BSc MSc PhD
Assistant Professor
I am an epidemiologist who specialises in the use of statistical and mathematical models to assist in developing control strategies for infectious diseases. I am particularly interested in working on infectious diseases at the edges of elimination and eradication. My current interests are in polio eradication and vector-borne diseases such as Zika and dengue virus. I am an active member of the Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases (CMMID).
My research team are the modelling partners of Unicef within the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. The intention is to provide support for policy decisions via mathematical modelling and the analysis of data. Prior to LSHTM I was at Imperial College London where I held a MRC methodology research fellowship that focussed on development of statistical methods applied to polio eradication and other vaccine preventable diseases. This research was in collaboration with the WHO Polio Eradication Initiative, and it has been a valuable opportunity to contribute to a global health priority.
I am an Associate Editor for BMC Infectious Diseases. For my own Publications please see my regularly updated Google Scholar profile. I have highlighted several recent publications at the bottom of this page.
I regularly supervise MSc and MPH students, and have recently co-authored a paper with 2 previous MPH students. Please get in contact if you would like to collaborate. Getting everyone interested in science is very important to me and I regularly visit schools as part of the Inspire Initiative. Additionally, this year I will be a mentor of the Young Scientists Programme.
Centres
Teaching
I am a co-organiser for Modelling and the Dynamics of Infectious Diseases, that is part of the Distance Learning MSc in Epidemiology at the LSHTM. I have been awarded a Teaching Research Award to engage with past and current students on how they went about learning mathematical modelling of infectious diseases. More information can be found here.
I also teach occassionally on several other courses within LSHTM, including the modelling courses run over the summer.
Research
At the LSHTM I am involved with several projects:
- Understanding the future trajectory of the Zika virus epidemic and strategies to prevent transmission (as part of the ZikaPLAN and ZikaAlliance consortia, with Oliver Brady and Laith Yakob)
- Development of suitable scale-up strategies for Wolbachia use in high transmission settings applied to Dengue (BMGF funded, led by Oliver Brady)
- Effectivness of supplementary immunisation stragies in preventing poliomyelitis outbreaks (BMGF funded, PI)
- Vaccination Strategies for diseases and the end-stage of elimination: application to poliomyelitis and measles (primary supervisor of MRC funded student Grace Macklin.