Hill Lab @JohnsHopkins

Resources

• The MIDAS network and IDDjobs are great resources for the infectious disease modeling community 
• I have served on the organizing committe for the COVID-19 Data Forum and the COVID-19 Dynamics & Evolution Conference
• Check out the Harvard Biomathematics Initiative, which we helped start, to find biomath events and resouces (at Harvard and beyond)
• The Society for Mathematical Biology is useful resource for those working at the interface of mathematics and biology, or interested in getting into the field      

Software

We share code for many of our projects on Github. This includes:

• Modeling COVID-19 Spread vs Healthcare Capacity: An R Shiny App
• https://github.com/alsnhll/COVID19NetworkSimulations:  Python code for rapid simulation of SEIR-type model dynamics on large network-structured populations using only Google Colab
• https://github.com/alsnhll/COVID19EvictionSimulations: Python code to simulate the impact of evictions on COVID-19 spread (based on above)
• https://github.com/alsnhll/SIRNestedNetwork: Python code to simulate SIR model for heirarchical metapopulation network structures
• https://github.com/alsnhll/PhysicsTodayCOVID19: Matlab code to simulate simple epidemic models

Popular science writing

"The math behind epidemics" published by Physics Today (Nov 2020)
"Should There Be an Oath for Scientists?" published by PBS NOVA (Jan 2017)
"Why There's No HIV Cure Yet" published by PBS NOVA (Aug 2014)

Media coverage

• Early Independence Award from the NIH covered by the Harvard Gazette, Forbes, MedTech Boston, NIH Director’s Blog 
• HIV latency work covered by the Nature Medicine News, International AIDS Society, PNAS Commentary 
• HIV drug desistance work covered by Harvard Gazette, Johns Hopkins Medicine News, Positively Aware, BBC, Bio-IT World 
• Grand Challenges Explorations Grant from the Gates Foundation covered by the Harvard Crimson 
• Bedbug work discussed with Harvard Gazette, Penn Medicine News, Iowa State University News, U.S. News & World Reports, CBS Philly, Inverse, Forbes, Science Journal for Kids
• COVID-19 modeling discussed with WIRED, TIME, Physics Today, Popular Mechanics, Towards Data Science, News Medical, Live Science, Philadelphia Inquirer, Bloomberg, Washington Post, Huffington Post, Live Science, Penn Medicine, Boston Globe, Yahoo Finance, Hopkins Medicine

Recommended courses

These are courses that I or other members of my team have found most useful towards the research we do. Note that these skills could also be learned in courses by different names.

• Mathematics: Differential equations, dynamical systems, stochastic processes, mathematical modeling, mathematical biology
• Statistics: Probability theory, statistical inference, Bayesian inference
• Computer science: Scientific computing, algorithms (Python/R/Matlab most commonly used languages)
• Biology: Evolutionary biology, ecology, population genetics
• Public Health: Epidemiology, any infectious disease courses
• Medicine: physiology, microbiology/virology, immunology

The following courses at Johns Hopkins focus specifically on mathematical modeling in biology:

• EN.553.492 Mathematical Biology (Applied Math & Statistics)
• EN.580.430 Systems Pharmacology & Personalized Medicine (Biomedical Engineering)
• EN.540.409 Dynamic Modeling & Control (Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering)
• AS.250.302 Modeling the Living Cell (Biophysics)
• 340.677.01 Infectious Disease Dynamics: Theoretical and Computational Approaches (Epidemiology)
• 221.660.01 Systems Science in Public Health: Basic Modeling and Simulation Methods (International Health)
• EN.560.453 An Introduction to Network Modeling (Civil & Systems Engineering)
• EN.520.622: Principles of Complex Networked System (Electrical & Computer Engineering)  

Opportunities

Postdocs: We are always looking for talented postdoctoral fellows with strong mathematical backgrounds and experience modeling biological systems to join our team. Interested candidates should send an email describing their interest in our research and relevant experience, and include a CV and link to a Google Scholar profile. We currently have a job posting on IDDjobs for a set of HIV projects.

Graduate students: If you are current graduate student (masters or PhD) in any program at JHU looking to do a rotation or research project, feel free to get in touch! Propsective graduate students should apply to the most relevant program at JHU. We are affiliated with Biomedical Engineering, Applied Mathematics & Statistics, and Infectious Disease Epidemiology, but can take students from any program (Engineering/Science/Medicine/Public Health).

Undergraduate students: Students in junior or senior year may be considered for summer research internships or long-term research for credit. Interested students should send a resume and unofficial transcript. At least one course covering mathematical modeling in biology is a prerequisite.

High school students: Due to the mathematical skills required for our work, we do not accept high school students in the lab.

Funding