PROF. DR. ALEX R. COOK

Dr Alex Cook is a Professor in the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at the National University of Singapore (NUS), where he is also the Vice Dean of Research, leader of the Biostatistics and Modelling Domain and director of the Centre for Epidemic Research and Modelling. He holds joint appointments at the Duke-NUS Medical School Singapore, at the Department of Statistics and Data Science, NUS. He works on infectious disease modelling and statistics, including COVID-19, dengue, influenza and other respiratory pathogens, and on population modelling to assess the effect of evolving demographics on non-communicable diseases such as diabetes. 

USING MATHEMATICAL MODELLING TO INFORM PUBLIC HEALTH RESPONSE TO INFECTIOUS DISEASE OUTBREAKS

Mathematical modelling has played a pivotal role in shaping the public health response to infectious diseases outbreaks in recent years, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, but also in managing endemic diseases such as dengue fever. This talk will give case studies of how these models were used in forecasting the trajectory of COVID-19, assisting policy makers in Singapore to implement timely and effective interventions. We will discuss how mathematics informed social distancing measures, the impact of travel restrictions, and the deployment of vaccines. Additionally, we will examine quantitatively how the use of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes has disrupted dengue transmission. By combining real-time data and computational techniques, these models offer valuable insights for forecasting outbreak dynamics and optimizing control strategies, thereby supporting public health authorities in making data-driven decisions to mitigate the impact of current and future outbreaks.