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.
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. My research has been continuously funded since 2002, mostly by the National Institutes of Health, with support from the CDC, New York State, the Schmidt Family Foundation, and industry.
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; and in New York City's Ryan White program, the Care Coordination Program, PROMISE, and Data to Suppression (D2S)
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
Building and using systems that detect threats early, from HIV case reporting to wastewater monitoring in hospitals and communities.
Studies: Garbage Gazers (wastewater surveillance), Data to Suppression (D2S), Ending the Epidemic Dashboard, and other public health dashboards
How floods, heat, and storms disrupt health and health care and shape infectious disease outcomes, including HIV and TB.
Studies: WEATHERing HIV
I apply modern causal inference methods, including target trial emulation, and implementation science approaches to draw sound conclusions from routine program data and cohort studies.
More than 370 peer-reviewed papers with my students and colleagues.
Estimating the causal effects of large-scale exposures, such as national policies, extreme weather events, and abrupt funding disruptions, on population health outcomes. 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.
Six papers that show the range, from outbreak investigation to multi-country cohorts.
More than 400 news stories and interviews since 2020, on COVID-19, HIV, bird flu and mpox, wastewater surveillance, and climate and health.
The New York Times · The Washington Post · Los Angeles Times · The Atlantic · ProPublica · Rolling Stone · Vogue · TIME · NPR · CBS News · CNN · Associated Press · Bloomberg · Axios · STAT · The Guardian · BBC · Al Jazeera · WNYC
Featured interviewCUNY Funding, InterruptedThe Brian Lehrer Show, WNYC · May 2025 · Listen
I teach Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Public Health Surveillance, and Implementation Science in Population Health at the City University of New York (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.
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
I advise health departments, research teams, foundations, and companies on study design, surveillance, and making sense of evidence.
Expert review, scientific advisory boards, short strategic consults, and talks, where what you need is a senior epidemiologist's judgment.
Get in touchCohort studies, evaluations, surveillance system design, and analysis. For larger projects I work through my consulting firm, Epidemic Intelligence.
Visit Epidemic Intelligence
I started my career in epidemiology 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 large-scale HIV cohort studies across sub-Saharan Africa, the U.S., and in NYC. I’ve launched new national cohort studies focused on respiratory viruses. I mentor PhD students and teach courses in infectious disease epidemiology, public health surveillance, and implementation science. In my 2025-26 sabbatical year, I received a Fulbright, based at Sorbonne Université in Paris.
The New York Times Magazine told the story of that West Nile investigation in Man Versus Mosquito (2000).
Away from work I play guitar, run, cook for family and friends, and keep working on my French.
