Seth Blumberg, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor

 

Mathematical models of trachoma, healthcare associated infections, and antimicrobial resistance

My research focuses on developing and applying data-driven computational models of infectious diseases that exhibit the potential of elimination (i.e. R < 1). A key goal has been to elucidate risk factors that tip the balance between disease quiescence and emergence. This involves quantification of the impact of patient-specific or population-wide control interventions. Applications include enhancing trachoma elimination programs, mitigating the impact of SARS-CoV-2 in congregate settings, characterizing the transmission dynamics of healthcare associated infections and identifying factors responsible for the emergence of antibiotic resistance. My involvement in direct patient care provides a practical perspective of the investigations and metrics that have an immediate impact on clinical guidelines and public health.
 

I am fortunate to be based within the Francis I. Proctor Foundation. The Foundation’s interdisciplinary approach toward alleviating the global burden of infectious disease is innovative, impactful, and intellectually engaging.

 

To Learn More:

https://profiles.ucsf.edu/seth.blumberg
https://mindscape.team/

 

Research Areas:

Epidemiology, Infectious Diseases, Trachoma, Mathematical modeling, Computation, Clinical informatics
 
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Benjamin Arnold, Ph.D., MPH

Assistant Professor

 

Epidemiologic methods for disease elimination with a focus on trachoma

Dr. Arnold is an Assistant Professor in the F.I. Proctor Foundation. He is an infectious disease epidemiologist and biostatistican by training, and his research focuses on clinical trial methodology, causal inference, and serologic surveillance. Dr. Arnold leads the Proctor Foundation's Data Coordinating Center, which supports over 10 clinical trials funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Arnold's research group uses the tools of epidemiology, biostatistics, and data science to make advances at the interface between field studies, laboratory science and computational methods to understand infectious disease dynamics. A particular focus of their resesarch is elimination of trachoma and other neglected tropical diseases in low-resource settings. Additional areas of emphasis include enteric pathogens, child growth failure, interventions to reduce environmentally mediated pathogen transmission, and open/reproducible research.

 

To Learn More:

https://profiles.ucsf.edu/benjamin.arnold

https://proctor.ucsf.edu/faculty/benjamin-arnold-phd
 

Research Areas:

Epidemiology, Infectious Diseases, Trachoma, Biostatistics, Machine learning
 
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Thomas Lietman, MD

Professor

 

Trachoma, Childhood Mortality, and Corneal Ulcer Treatment and Prevention

Dr. Lietman is the Ruth Lee and Phillips Thygeson Distinguished Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, and the Director of the Francis I. Proctor Foundation. His research group has considerable experience with individual and community-randomized trials of trachoma, childhood mortality, and corneal ulcer treatment and prevention. He has served as the PI on a number of NIH-funded clinical trials: the Steroids for Corneal Ulcer Trial, the two Mycotic Ulcer Treatment Trials, the two Trachoma Amelioration in Northern Amhara studies, and the Village Integrated Eye Worker trial (in Nepal). He is multiple PI on the Ethiopian trachoma trial KETFO and on the ongoing SCUT II corneal ulcer trial. In addition, he was the overall PI on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded MORDOR I study and for the MORDOR II studies (Niger and Burkina Faso), as well as the AVENIR planning grant (Niger). He ran the Niger arm of the BMGF-funded PRET trachoma study, and has worked on the BMGF-funded Neglected Tropical Disease modeling consortium. Recently, he has explored big data for infectious disease, including two NEI projects: the Digital Disease Detection grant and the Forecasting Trachoma grant.

 

To Learn More:

https://profiles.ucsf.edu/thomas.lietman


 

Research Areas:

Trachoma, Cornea, Infectious Diseases
 
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Catherine Oldenburg, ScD, MPH

Assistant Professor

 

Infectious Disease and Strategies for Trachoma Elimination

Dr. Oldenburg, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Epidemiology & Biostatistics, is an infectious disease epidemiologist who uses randomized controlled trial designs to evaluate antibiotic-based interventions to prevent childhood morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. Her expertise includes infectious disease epidemiology, causal inference, and global health. Current projects include evaluation of core-group based targeting strategies for trachoma elimination in Ethiopia and administration of azithromycin to young infants and neonates for the prevention of child mortality in Burkina Faso. Dr. Oldenburg serves as a mentor on the Resident Research Committee in the Department of Ophthalmology (approximately ten resident projects per year). She also serves as a research mentor for epidemiology graduate students, medical students, and undergraduate students interested in clinical research and public health. Dr. Oldenburg may be identified as Mentor for those Scholars interested in RCT design, infectious disease epidemiology, and global health.

 

To Learn More:

https://profiles.ucsf.edu/cate.oldenburg


 

Research Areas:

Cornea, Infectious Diseases, Trachoma
 
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Jeremy Keenan, MD, MPH

Professor

 

Reducing the Global Burden of Blindness

Dr. Keenan, H. Bruce Ostler Professor of Ophthalmology and the Director of International Programs at the Proctor Foundation, is an epidemiologist and ophthalmologist with clinical specialties of cornea and uveitis. His research focuses on strategies to reduce the global burden of blindness, with an emphasis on developing countries. Dr. Keenan is currently the PI of two UG1 grants from the NEI: SWIFT (Sanitation, Water, and Instruction in Face-washing for Trachoma), a cluster-randomized trial that seeks to determine whether improvements in water, sanitation, and hygiene are effective for infectious trachoma in Africa, and VIEW II (Village-integrated Eye Worker Trial II), a cluster-randomized trial that seeks to determine the effectiveness of community-based screening for glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and macular degeneration in Nepal. Dr. Keenan is also a co-investigator on several trials funded by the Gates Foundation to determine the effectiveness of mass azithromycin distributions for childhood mortality. In addition, he has strong ties to Aravind Eye Hospital in South India, where he is conducting a pilot trial comparing different treatments for acanthamoeba keratitis, and with Chiang Mai University in Thailand, where he has performed diagnostic accuracy studies for cytomegalovirus retinitis, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy.

 

To Learn More:

https://profiles.ucsf.edu/jeremy.keenan


 

Research Areas:

Cornea, Infectious Diseases, Trachoma
 
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