Allison E. Aiello | |
---|---|
Born | 1972 (age 50–51) |
Academic background | |
Education | BS, Environmental Sciences, 1995, University of Massachusetts Amherst MS, Environmental Health Sciences and Engineering, 1998, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health PhD, Epidemiology, 2003, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health |
Thesis | The influence of antibacterial cleaning and hygiene products on levels of non-susceptible bacteria in the home environment (2003) |
Academic work | |
Institutions | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University of Michigan |
Website | aielloresearchgroup |
Allison Elizabeth Aiello (born 1972) is an American epidemiologist. She is a professor of Epidemiology and a Carolina Population Center Fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Aiello is an expert in influenza,investigating non-pharmaceutical interventions for flu prevention.
Aiello was born in 1972. [1] She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst,her Master's degree from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and her PhD in Epidemiology from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. [2] Following her PhD,Aiello became a Robert Wood Johnson Health &Society Scholar for two years at the University of Michigan. [3]
Upon completing her Robert Wood Johnson Health &Society Scholar Fellowship in 2005,Aiello was appointed an assistant professor of Epidemiology at the institution. [2] In this role,she collaborated with Arnold Monto on a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded study investigating "the feasibility and effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions”in reducing the spread of influenza." [4] They wished to determine whether wearing surgical masks and hand sanitizing could prevent the spread of flu or other respiratory illnesses. [5] She later collaborated with Jennifer Dowd to study the role latent pathogens played in the development of cardiovascular disease,dementia and other illnesses. They found that socioeconomic status played a vital role in a marker of cell-mediated immunity. The conclusion of their study showed evidence that lower socioeconomic status may influence mental health outcomes through stress related alterations in immunity and inflammation. [6]
As a result of her research into the epidemiologic and mechanistic link between social factors,infectious agents,immune response,and the development of chronic diseases of aging,Aiello was elected Carolina Population Center Faculty fellow. [7] In the same year,she also published a set of strategies and guidelines for hospitals to increase adherence to hand-hygiene practices. These included using alcohol-based hand rubs with alcohol concentrations between 62 and 95 percent when hands were visibly soiled. [8] In 2015,Aiello co-develop a model that allows researchers to predict the spread of influenza through a mobile app that monitors human interactions. [9]
In 2018,Aiello was the recipient of a five-year,$3.5 million National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities grant to "examine the impact of psychosocial exposures upon people’s cardiometabolic and mental health." They conducted research into DNA methylation and gene expression relevant to life-course psychosocial stressors among participants. [10] The following year,she was awarded the 2019 Carol J. Rowland Hogue Mid-career Achievement Award from the Society for Epidemiologic Research,which recognizes a mid-career scientist who has made "an exceptional contribution to the practice of epidemiology". [11]
During the COVID-19 pandemic in North America,Aiello helped create guidelines for the World Health Organization (WHO) to recommend that people should follow to stem the spread of the COVID-19 virus. [12] She also worked alongside members of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to grasp how widespread cases of COVID-19 with mild or no symptoms are in the state and to monitor the prevalence of the disease over time. [13]
A pandemic is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region,for instance multiple continents or worldwide,affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of infected individuals is not a pandemic. Widespread endemic diseases with a stable number of infected individuals such as recurrences of seasonal influenza are generally excluded as they occur simultaneously in large regions of the globe rather than being spread worldwide.
The 1918 flu pandemic,also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer of the Spanish flu,was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was March 1918 in Kansas,United States,with further cases recorded in France,Germany and the United Kingdom in April. Two years later,nearly a third of the global population,or an estimated 500 million people,had been infected in four successive waves. Estimates of deaths range from 17 million to 50 million,and possibly as high as 100 million,making it one of the deadliest pandemics in history.
The Hong Kong flu,also known as the 1968 flu pandemic,was a flu pandemic whose outbreak in 1968 and 1969 killed between one and four million people globally. It is among the deadliest pandemics in history,and was caused by an H3N2 strain of the influenza A virus. The virus was descended from H2N2 through antigenic shift,a genetic process in which genes from multiple subtypes are reassorted to form a new virus.
Flu season is an annually recurring time period characterized by the prevalence of an outbreak of influenza (flu). The season occurs during the cold half of the year in each hemisphere. It takes approximately two days to show symptoms. Influenza activity can sometimes be predicted and even tracked geographically. While the beginning of major flu activity in each season varies by location,in any specific location these minor epidemics usually take about three weeks to reach its pinnacle,and another three weeks to significantly diminish.
In virology,influenza A virus subtype H1N1 (A/H1N1) is a subtype of influenza A virus. Major outbreaks of H1N1 strains in humans include the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic,the 1977 Russian flu pandemic and the 2009 swine flu pandemic. It is an orthomyxovirus that contains the glycoproteins hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. For this reason,they are described as H1N1,H1N2 etc.,depending on the type of H or N antigens they express with metabolic synergy. Hemagglutinin causes red blood cells to clump together and binds the virus to the infected cell. Neuraminidase is a type of glycoside hydrolase enzyme which helps to move the virus particles through the infected cell and assist in budding from the host cells.
An influenza pandemic is an epidemic of an influenza virus that spreads across a large region and infects a large proportion of the population. There have been six major influenza epidemics in the last 140 years,with the 1918 flu pandemic being the most severe;this is estimated to have been responsible for the deaths of 50–100 million people. The most recent,the 2009 swine flu pandemic,resulted in under 300,000 deaths and is considered relatively mild. These pandemics occur irregularly.
In public health,social distancing,also called physical distancing,is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious disease by maintaining a physical distance between people and reducing the number of times people come into close contact with each other. It usually involves keeping a certain distance from others and avoiding gathering together in large groups.
Dame Anne Mandall Johnson DBE FMedSci is a British epidemiologist,known for her work in public health,especially the areas of HIV,sexually transmitted infections and infectious diseases.
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Cécile Viboud is a Staff Scientist based in the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health,where she is part of the Multinational Influenza Seasonal Mortality Study (MISMS). Viboud specialises in the mortality of infectious disease. Viboud was involved with epidemiological analysis during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Catherine Lynne Troisi is an American epidemiologist specializing in leadership studies and infectious diseases including HIV and hepatitis. She is an associate professor in the divisions of management,policy,and community health and epidemiology at UTHealth School of Public Health and Director of Workforce Development for the Texas Epidemic Public Health Institute.
Natalie E. Dean is an American biostatistician specializing in infectious disease epidemiology. Dean is currently an assistant professor of Biostatistics at the University of Florida. Her research involves epidemiological modeling of outbreaks,including Ebola,Zika and COVID-19.
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