HIV prevention, care, and treatment
How HIV programs perform at scale in sub-Saharan Africa and New York City, and who national prevention efforts are still missing.
Studies: Central Africa IeDEA, Together 5000, AMETHST, NYC Ryan White evaluation
EPIDEMIOLOGIST
Infectious disease epidemiologist working where research, surveillance, and public health practice meet.
I'm Distinguished Professor of Epidemiology at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy and founding executive director of the CUNY Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health. A former CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service officer and Fulbright scholar, I study HIV, emerging infections, public health surveillance, and climate and health.
Research
Large-scale cohort studies, EHRs, routine surveillance data, and close partnerships with health departments and programs, aimed at questions that change what public health does next.
Respiratory and emerging infections
From the CHASING COVID Cohort to Project PROTECTS, tracking how influenza, RSV, and SARS-CoV-2 infections play out over time, including their longer-term effects.
Studies: Project PROTECTS, CHASING COVID Cohort
Public health surveillance
Building and using systems that detect threats early, from HIV case reporting to wastewater monitoring in hospitals and communities.
Studies: [wastewater program link]
Climate, extreme weather, and health
How floods, heat, and storms disrupt health and health care and shape infectious disease outcomes, including HIV and TB.
Studies: WEATHERing HIV
Learning what works from real-world data
I apply modern causal inference methods and implementation science approaches for drawing sound conclusions from routine program data and cohort studies.
More than 370 peer-reviewed papers with my students and colleagues.
Currently
What I'm working on
Following up a national cohort of influenza, RSV, and COVID-19 infections through Project PROTECTS. Building a new Summer Institute in Population Health Methods with the Sorbonne Public Health Institute. Co-leading Central Africa IeDEA, and serving as associate director of the Einstein-Rockefeller-CUNY Center for AIDS Research.
Selected publications
Four papers that show the range, from outbreak investigation to multi-country cohorts.
2001
New England Journal of Medicine
The outbreak of West Nile virus infection in the New York City area in 1999
The investigation of West Nile virus's first appearance in the Western Hemisphere.
Finalist, CDC Charles C. Shepard Award for best epidemiologic publication
Read on PubMed
2026
BMJ Open
Project PROTECTS: a community-based, prospective study of respiratory outcomes
How the PROTECTS cohort tracks influenza, RSV, and SARS-CoV-2 through at-home testing.
Read on PubMed
2024
PLOS Medicine
Long-term HIV care outcomes under universal HIV treatment guidelines: a retrospective cohort study in 25 countries
What happened to HIV care in 25 countries after guidelines shifted to treating everyone diagnosed with HIV.
Read on PubMed
2015
Clinical Infectious Diseases
Improvements in HIV care engagement and viral load suppression following enrollment in a comprehensive HIV care coordination program
How New York City's Ryan White care coordination program improved engagement in care and viral suppression.
Read on PubMed
In the media
More than 370 news stories and interviews since 2000, on COVID-19, HIV, bird flu and mpox, wastewater surveillance, and climate and health.
The New York Times · NPR · The Guardian · Associated Press · The Atlantic · STAT · BBC · Al Jazeera · WNYC
Commentary
STAT First Opinion · June 2025
Ending U.S.-global health research partnerships will cost America
STAT First Opinion · February 2025
The 'disease detectives' dodged a bullet, but another might be coming
STAT First Opinion · May 2024
From sewage to safety: hospital wastewater surveillance as a beacon for defense against H5N1 bird flu
CNN Opinion · March 2020
What we've learned from the HIV pandemic
NBC News THINK · September 2022
Biden said the pandemic is over. Is it?
Teaching and mentoring
I teach Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Public Health Surveillance, and Implementation Science in Population Health at CUNY, and much of my time goes to mentoring PhD students and early-career researchers.
Recorded lectures from my Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Public Health Surveillance courses are free on YouTube, organized as full-course playlists.
Speaking
Seminars, keynotes, and panels on surveillance, HIV, respiratory viruses, and what epidemics teach us about preparing for the next one.
Featured talk
Estimating the effects of extreme weather events on HIV outcomes
Work with me
I advise health departments, research teams, foundations, and companies on study design, surveillance, and making sense of evidence.
Advising and talks
Expert review, scientific advisory boards, short strategic consults, and talks, where what you need is a senior epidemiologist's judgment.
Get in touchProjects that need a team
Cohort studies, evaluations, surveillance system design, and analysis. For larger projects I work through my consulting firm, Epidemic Intelligence.
Visit Epidemic Intelligence[Informal photo: fieldwork, teaching, or Paris]
About
I started as a CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service officer, helping investigate West Nile virus when it first appeared in New York in 1999, then directed HIV/AIDS surveillance at the New York City Department of Health. Since 2004 I've worked on HIV cohort studies across sub-Saharan Africa, and in 2025-26 I spent a Fulbright year at Sorbonne Université in Paris.
Away from work I play guitar, run, cook for family and friends, and keep working on my French.