Maia Majumder

Last updated
Maia Majumder
Born
Maimuna Shahnaz Majumder
Alma mater Tufts University (BS, MPH) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MS, PhD)
Known forForecasting outbreaks, computational epidemiology
Scientific career
Fields Epidemiology
Institutions Harvard Medical School
Boston Children's Hospital
Thesis Modeling transmission heterogeneity for infectious disease outbreaks  (2018)
Doctoral advisor Richard Larson
Website maimunamajumder.com

Maimuna (Maia) Majumder is a computational epidemiologist and a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital's Computational Health Informatics Program (CHIP).

Contents

Education and early career

Majumder received her Bachelor of Science degree from Tufts University in engineering in 2013, as well as her Master of Public Health from Tufts University School of Medicine. She then attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology for both her Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in systems engineering under the supervision of Richard Larson. For her Master's thesis work, she utilized publicly available data to model and characterize the MERS epidemic in Saudi Arabia. [1] Her Ph.D. thesis focused on modeling disease transmission dynamics during real-world outbreaks, taking into account that there is heterogeneity within populations, so some individuals are more likely than others to transmit an infection. [2]

While at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Majumder joined HealthMap, a team of researchers, epidemiologists, and software developers at Boston Children's Hospital that utilizes freely available electronic data to perform real-time disease outbreak monitoring and surveillance. There, she used local news reports to track epidemics such as measles and mumps and modeling the effects of vaccination rates on their spread, using a combination of mathematical modeling and surveillance data. [3] In 2015, she published a report that found that linked the ongoing measles outbreak in Anaheim, California, which started some time in December 2014, to a lack of vaccination. [4] She reported that the vaccination rate was somewhere between 50 and 86 percent—well below the ideal rate of 96 percent needed to confer herd immunity to the population. [5] [6] In 2016, she used reporting by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette to track the August 2016 mumps outbreak in Arkansas. [3] [7] She and her colleagues estimated that the vaccination rate of the MMR vaccine may have been as low as 70 percent. [8]

With HealthMap, Majumder also monitored and published projections of Ebola virus disease infections and fatalities during the 2014 Western African Ebola virus epidemic. [9] Her team also worked to estimate the growth and longevity of the outbreak, in addition to modeling how interventions might alter transmission rates. [10] [11]

Following her graduate work, Majumder joined Harvard University's Health Policy Data Science lab as a postdoctoral fellow between 2018 and 2019.

Research

In 2019, Majumder was appointed a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital's Computational Health Informatics Program (CHIP). She rose to prominence as a public health researcher for her use of novel ways of finding, using, and visualizing non-traditional sources of public health data, including utilizing local media reports to track disease outbreaks. [3] As someone who relies on local news for disease forecasting, Majumder has been publicly dismayed at the shuttering of local news organizations around the United States, as she relies on their reporting for her work. [12]

Since early 2020, Majumder's research group has worked to model and forecast the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. She produced one of the early estimates of the number of new infections caused by each infected person, if no measures were taken to control the spread of the disease; this value is known as the basic reproduction number, or R0. [13] [14] The analysis utilized publicly available data from cases of the infection in Wuhan, China between December 1, 2019 and January 26, 2020 and estimated the R0 is somewhere between 2.0 and 3.1, making COVID-19 more contagious that the seasonal flu. [15] She has also stressed the need for more clarity around COVID-19 statistics, with a focus on reports around the case fatality rate of the disease, which can be misleading. [16] She notes that in order to get an accurate view of COVID-19's fatality, we must first know how many people have actually been infected—a number that is unclear due to limited COVID-19 testing and the need to survey populations for who may have antibodies for the virus, but only experienced a mild infection. [17]

Majumder is also an advocate for the importance of preprints, or pre-peer-reviewed publications, in quickly disseminating information and shaping the global discourse during public health crises. [18] [19]

Public outreach

Majumder regularly shares information about epidemiology and outbreak tracking on Twitter and has written for popular outlets, such as NPR and FiveThirtyEight . [8] [20] She also co-edited the 2016 book Ebola's Message: Public Health and Medicine in the Twenty-First Century with philosopher Nicholas G. Evans and molecular epidemiologist Tara C. Smith about the 2013-2015 Ebola virus disease epidemic. [21] [22]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Measles</span> Viral disease affecting humans

Measles is a highly contagious, vaccine-preventable infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than 40 °C (104 °F), cough, runny nose, and inflamed eyes. Small white spots known as Koplik's spots may form inside the mouth two or three days after the start of symptoms. A red, flat rash which usually starts on the face and then spreads to the rest of the body typically begins three to five days after the start of symptoms. Common complications include diarrhea, middle ear infection (7%), and pneumonia (6%). These occur in part due to measles-induced immunosuppression. Less commonly seizures, blindness, or inflammation of the brain may occur. Other names include morbilli, rubeola, red measles, and English measles. Both rubella, also known as German measles, and roseola are different diseases caused by unrelated viruses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mumps</span> Human disease caused by paramyxovirus

Mumps is a highly contagious viral disease caused by the mumps virus. Initial symptoms of mumps are non-specific and include fever, headache, malaise, muscle pain, and loss of appetite. These symptoms are usually followed by painful swelling around the side of the face, which is the most common symptom of a mumps infection. Symptoms typically occur 16 to 18 days after exposure to the virus. About one third of people with a mumps infection do not have any symptoms (asymptomatic).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MMR vaccine</span> Combined vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella

The MMR vaccine is a vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella, abbreviated as MMR. The first dose is generally given to children around 9 months to 15 months of age, with a second dose at 15 months to 6 years of age, with at least four weeks between the doses. After two doses, 97% of people are protected against measles, 88% against mumps, and at least 97% against rubella. The vaccine is also recommended for those who do not have evidence of immunity, those with well-controlled HIV/AIDS, and within 72 hours of exposure to measles among those who are incompletely immunized. It is given by injection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rubella</span> Human viral disease

Rubella, also known as German measles or three-day measles, is an infection caused by the rubella virus. This disease is often mild, with half of people not realizing that they are infected. A rash may start around two weeks after exposure and last for three days. It usually starts on the face and spreads to the rest of the body. The rash is sometimes itchy and is not as bright as that of measles. Swollen lymph nodes are common and may last a few weeks. A fever, sore throat, and fatigue may also occur. Joint pain is common in adults. Complications may include bleeding problems, testicular swelling, encephalitis, and inflammation of nerves. Infection during early pregnancy may result in a miscarriage or a child born with congenital rubella syndrome (CRS). Symptoms of CRS manifest as problems with the eyes such as cataracts, deafness, as well as affecting the heart and brain. Problems are rare after the 20th week of pregnancy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disease outbreak</span> Sudden increase in occurrences of a disease

In epidemiology, an outbreak is a sudden increase in occurrences of a disease when cases are in excess of normal expectancy for the location or season. It may affect a small and localized group or impact upon thousands of people across an entire continent. The number of cases varies according to the disease-causing agent, and the size and type of previous and existing exposure to the agent. Outbreaks include many epidemics, which term is normally only for infectious diseases, as well as diseases with an environmental origin, such as a water or foodborne disease. They may affect a region in a country or a group of countries. Pandemics are near-global disease outbreaks when multiple and various countries around the Earth are soon infected.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basic reproduction number</span> Metric in epidemiology

In epidemiology, the basic reproduction number, or basic reproductive number, denoted , of an infection is the expected number of cases directly generated by one case in a population where all individuals are susceptible to infection. The definition assumes that no other individuals are infected or immunized. Some definitions, such as that of the Australian Department of Health, add the absence of "any deliberate intervention in disease transmission". The basic reproduction number is not necessarily the same as the effective reproduction number , which is the number of cases generated in the current state of a population, which does not have to be the uninfected state. is a dimensionless number and not a time rate, which would have units of time−1, or units of time like doubling time.

Claims of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism have been extensively investigated and found to be false. The link was first suggested in the early 1990s and came to public notice largely as a result of the 1998 Lancet MMR autism fraud, characterised as "perhaps the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years". The fraudulent research paper, authored by discredited former doctor Andrew Wakefield and published in The Lancet, falsely claimed the vaccine was linked to colitis and autism spectrum disorders. The paper was retracted in 2010 but is still cited by anti-vaccine activists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Measles vaccine</span> Vaccine used to prevent measles

Measles vaccine protects against becoming infected with measles. Nearly all of those who do not develop immunity after a single dose develop it after a second dose. When the rate of vaccination within a population is greater than 92%, outbreaks of measles typically no longer occur; however, they may occur again if the rate of vaccination decreases. The vaccine's effectiveness lasts many years. It is unclear if it becomes less effective over time. The vaccine may also protect against measles if given within a couple of days after exposure to measles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social history of viruses</span> Influence of viruses and viral infections on human history

The social history of viruses describes the influence of viruses and viral infections on human history. Epidemics caused by viruses began when human behaviour changed during the Neolithic period, around 12,000 years ago, when humans developed more densely populated agricultural communities. This allowed viruses to spread rapidly and subsequently to become endemic. Viruses of plants and livestock also increased, and as humans became dependent on agriculture and farming, diseases such as potyviruses of potatoes and rinderpest of cattle had devastating consequences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superspreading event</span> Event in which 3 or more people attend and an infectious disease is spread much more than usual

A superspreading event (SSEV) is an event in which an infectious disease is spread much more than usual, while an unusually contagious organism infected with a disease is known as a superspreader. In the context of a human-borne illness, a superspreader is an individual who is more likely to infect others, compared with a typical infected person. Such superspreaders are of particular concern in epidemiology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epidemiology of measles</span>

Measles is extremely contagious, but surviving the infection results in lifelong immunity, so its continued circulation in a community depends on the generation of susceptible hosts by birth of children. In communities which generate insufficient new hosts the disease will die out. This concept was first recognized by Bartlett in 1957, who referred to the minimum number supporting measles as the critical community size (CCS). Analysis of outbreaks in island communities suggested that the CCS for measles is c. 250,000. Due to the development of vaccination against measles, the world has seen a 99% decrease in measles related cases compared cases before the vaccine was developed.

In early months of 2019, a measles outbreak occurred in the Portland metropolitan area, including the Clark County, Washington suburbs, in the United States. At the time, the outbreak was the largest outbreak in more than two decades; outbreaks in 2019 in areas including Brooklyn and Rockland County, New York have since seen far greater numbers of cases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019–2020 measles outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo</span> Measles epidemic in the DRC in 2019

In 2019, a measles epidemic broke out in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The epidemic started in early 2019 in the southeast corner of the DRC and then spread to all provinces. By June 2019 the epidemic was reported to have exceeded the death toll of the concurrent Ebola epidemic. By April 2020, it had infected more than 341,000 people and claimed about 6,400 fatalities. This has primarily affected children under the age of five, representing 74% of infections and nearly 90% of deaths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neil Ferguson (epidemiologist)</span> British epidemiologist and researcher

Neil Morris Ferguson is a British epidemiologist and professor of mathematical biology, who specialises in the patterns of spread of infectious disease in humans and animals. He is the director of the Jameel Institute, and of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, and head of the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Vice-Dean for Academic Development in the Faculty of Medicine, all at Imperial College London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael J. Ryan (doctor)</span> Irish doctor and Chief Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme

Michael Joseph Ryan is an Irish epidemiologist and former trauma surgeon, specialising in infectious disease and public health. He is executive director of the World Health Organization's Health Emergencies Programme, leading the team responsible for the international containment and treatment of COVID-19. Ryan has held leadership positions and has worked on various outbreak response teams in the field to eradicate the spread of diseases including bacillary dysentery, cholera, Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever, Ebola, Marburg virus disease, measles, meningitis, relapsing fever, Rift Valley fever, SARS, and Shigellosis.

Maria DeJoseph Van Kerkhove is an American infectious disease epidemiologist. With a background in high-threat pathogens, Van Kerkhove specializes in emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and is based in the Health Emergencies Program at the World Health Organization (WHO). She is the technical lead of COVID-19 response and the head of emerging diseases and zoonosis unit at WHO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caitlin Rivers</span> American epidemiologist

Caitlin M. Rivers is an American epidemiologist who as Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, specializing on improving epidemic preparedness. Rivers is currently working on the American response to the COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on the incorporation of infectious disease modeling and forecasting into public health decision making.

Alexandra Louise Phelan is an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. She specializes in international legal and policy issues that are related to emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, including upstream drivers of disease emergence like climate change.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saskia Popescu</span> Infectious disease epidemiologist

Saskia Popescu is an infectious disease epidemiologist and global health security expert in Phoenix, Arizona. She is an Assistant Professor of epidemiology at the University of Maryland, and holds academic appointments at the University of Arizona and George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government, where she lectures on biopreparedness and outbreak response. Since the start of the Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, Popescu has worked to prepare for and mitigate the spread of the disease within healthcare and the entertainment industry, where she led the global epidemiology and infection prevention response for Netflix. She has been recognized for her communication efforts around the pandemic, as well as her work on the front lines in infection prevention and healthcare biopreparedness. Popescu currently is a Senior Fellow at the Council on Strategic Risks, addressing converging biological risks from biological weapons nonproliferation, biosecurity, emerging infectious diseases and ecological security, biopreparedness in private industry, and global health security vulnerabilities.

References

  1. ↑ Majumder, Maimuna S. (Maimuna Shahnaz) (2015). Middle East respiratory syndrome in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia : insights from publicly available data (Thesis thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. hdl:1721.1/103565.
  2. ↑ Majumder, Maimuna S. (Maimuna Shahnaz) (2018). Modeling transmission heterogeneity for infectious disease outbreaks (Thesis thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. hdl:1721.1/120885.
  3. 1 2 3 Segerstrom, Carl (2018-12-24). "No news is bad news for public health". www.hcn.org. Retrieved 2020-03-31.
  4. ↑ Majumder, Maimuna S.; Cohn, Emily L.; Mekaru, Sumiko R.; Huston, Jane E.; Brownstein, John S. (2015-05-01). "Substandard Vaccination Compliance and the 2015 Measles Outbreak". JAMA Pediatrics. 169 (5): 494–495. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.0384 . ISSN   2168-6203. PMC   4476536 . PMID   25774618.
  5. ↑ Brody, Jane E. (2015-08-10). "Not Vaccinating Children Is the Greater Risk". Well. Retrieved 2020-03-31.
  6. ↑ Hensley, Scott (16 March 2015). "Vaccination Gaps Helped Fuel Disneyland Measles Spread". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-03-31.
  7. ↑ Majumder, Maimuna S.; Nguyen, Colleen M.; Cohn, Emily L.; Hswen, Yulin; Mekaru, Sumiko R.; Brownstein, John S. (2017-04-01). "Vaccine compliance and the 2016 Arkansas mumps outbreak". The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 17 (4): 361–362. doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(17)30122-6. ISSN   1473-3099. PMID   28346168.
  8. 1 2 Majumder, Maimuna (22 March 2017). "Social Media, Math And The Mystery Of A Mumps Outbreak". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-03-31.
  9. ↑ Enserin, Martin (2014-10-20). "How many Ebola cases are there really?". Science | AAAS. Retrieved 2020-03-31.
  10. ↑ Elliot, Danielle (2014-09-23). "What it Would Take to Stop the Ebola Outbreak by January". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-03-31.
  11. ↑ "Boston researchers trying to forecast Ebola's spread, but more data would help". www.betaboston.com. Retrieved 2020-03-31.
  12. ↑ "As towns lose their newspapers, disease detectives are left to fly blind". STAT. 2018-03-20. Retrieved 2020-03-31.
  13. ↑ Majumder, Maimuna S.; Mandl, Kenneth D. (2020-01-26). "Early Transmissibility Assessment of a Novel Coronavirus in Wuhan, China". SSRN. Rochester, NY. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3524675. PMC   7366781 . PMID   32714102. SSRN   3524675.
  14. ↑ Yong, Ed (2020-01-28). "The Deceptively Simple Number Sparking Coronavirus Fears". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-03-31.
  15. ↑ Belluz, Julia (2020-02-18). "These 2 questions will determine if the coronavirus becomes a deadly pandemic". Vox. Retrieved 2020-03-31.
  16. ↑ Belluz, Julia (2020-03-05). "Did the coronavirus get more deadly? The death rate, explained". Vox. Retrieved 2020-03-31.
  17. ↑ Majumder, Maimuna S. (2020-01-30). "Clarity, Please, on the Coronavirus Statistics | Issues in Science and Technology" . Retrieved 2020-03-31.
  18. ↑ Majumder, Maimuna S.; Mandl, Kenneth D. (2020-02-11). "Early in the Epidemic: Impact of Preprints on Global Discourse of 2019-nCOV Transmissibility". SSRN. Rochester, NY. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3536663. PMC   7366820 . PMID   32714103. SSRN   3536663.
  19. ↑ "Coronavirus Research Is Moving at Top Speed—With a Catch". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 2020-03-31.
  20. ↑ Majumder, Maimuna (2017-01-23). "Higher Rates Of Hate Crimes Are Tied To Income Inequality". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved 2020-03-31.
  21. ↑ Ebola's Message | The MIT Press. Basic Bioethics. MIT Press. 7 October 2016. ISBN   9780262035071 . Retrieved 2020-03-31.{{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  22. ↑ Piot, Peter (2016-09-21). "Public health: Beating Ebola". Nature. 537 (7621): 484–485. Bibcode:2016Natur.537..484P. doi: 10.1038/537484a . ISSN   1476-4687.
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