Biography
What attracted you to the health metric field?
My initial interest in health stemmed from a fascination with the human body and the complexity of the mechanisms that evolved to keep us healthy and functioning. However, in college, through exploring a multidisciplinary perspective on health, I became interested in the ways society, culture and any number of other factors interact with biology to produce differential health outcomes. This interest coincides well with the ways that public health looks at health and disease more holistically, taking factors outside the biological realm into consideration. It wasn’t until completing a summer program in biostatistics and epidemiology that I realized the potential power of quantitative tools in attempting to measure these different factors and their associated health outcomes. When I happened upon IHME in a search for post-graduate opportunities, I was intrigued by the mission statement and the ways IHME was using powerful quantitative tools and a holistic understanding of disease to better study the impact of diseases worldwide and reduce the overall burden of disease on a global scale.
What work are you doing at IHME?
At IHME I am working on the disease estimation team, producing estimates for YLLs, YLDs and DALYs for neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Motor Neuron Disorder. On this team, I am excited to pull together my background knowledge stemming from studying these disorders as a neuroscience major in my undergraduate studies with the new skills in data analysis that I am developing at IHME. My work includes finding and extracting new data sources and preparing the data, along with working to specify the most appropriate modeling parameters in order to produce the best estimates possible. In line with the GBD framework, I produce estimates for disease burden from neurological disorders for both sexes, as well as all GBD age-groups and across all GBD geographies.
How do you think your experience at IHME will contribute to your future work?
I am excited to dive into the field of global health metrics and really immerse myself in the strategies and methods employed at IHME in order to produce data-driven results. After this fellowship, I would like to continue working in health-related research and hope to focus more on the epidemiology of neurodegenerative diseases. I believe the skills I learn at IHME will be crucial to my future success, and I look forward to learning more about IHME’s research and about myself as a researcher in order to better understand the type of research I would like to pursue in the future.
GBD 2016 Meningitis Collaborators. Global, regional, and national burden of meningitis, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. The Lancet Neurology. 1 Dec 2018;17(12):1061–82. doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(18)30387-9.
GBD 2016 Dementia Collaborators. Global, regional, and national burden of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. The Lancet Neurology. 26 Nov 2018. doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(18)30403-4.
GBD 2016 Traumatic Brain Injury and Spinal Cord Injury Collaborators. Global, regional, and national burden of traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. The Lancet Neurology. 26 Nov 2018. doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(18)30415-0.
GBD 2017 SDG Collaborators. Measuring progress from 1990 to 2017 and projecting attainment to 2030 of the health-related Sustainable Development Goals for 195 countries and territories: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. The Lancet. 8 Nov 2018; 392:2091–138. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32281-5.
GBD 2017 Causes of Death Collaborators. Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality for 282 causes of death in 195 countries and territories, 1980–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. The Lancet. 8 Nov 2018;392:1736-88. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32203-7.
GBD 2017 Disease and Injury Incidence and Prevalence Collaborators. Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 354 diseases and injuries for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. The Lancet. 8 Nov 2018;392:1789–858. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32279-7.
GBD 2017 DALYs and HALE Collaborators. Global, regional, and national disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for 359 diseases and injuries and healthy life expectancy (HALE) for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. The Lancet. 8 Nov 2018;392:1859–922. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32335-3.
GBD 2017 Risk Factor Collaborators. Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. The Lancet. 8 Nov 2018;392:1923-94. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32225-6.
GBD 2016 Motor Neuron Disease Collaborators. Global, regional, and national burden of motor neuron diseases 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. The Lancet Neurology. 5 Nov 2018. doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(18)30404-6.
GBD 2016 Headache Collaborators . Global, regional, and national burden of migraine and tension-type headache, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. The Lancet Neurology. 1 Nov 2018; 17(11):954-976. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(18)30322-3.
GBD 2016 Parkinson's Disease Collaborators. Global, regional, and national burden of Parkinson’s disease, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. The Lancet Neurology. 1 October 2018. doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(18)30295-3.
Global Research of Developmental Disabilities Collaborators. Developmental disabilities among children younger than 5 years in 195 countries and territories, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. The Lancet Global Health. 29 Aug 2018. doi:
GBD 2016 Greece Collaborators. The burden of disease in Greece, health loss, risk factors, and health financing, 2000–16: an analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. The Lancet Public Health. 25 July 2018. doi:10.1016/S2468-2667(18)30130-0.
GBD 2016 Healthcare Access and Quality Collaborators. Measuring performance on the Healthcare Access and Quality Index for 195 countries and territories and selected subnational locations: a systematic analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. The Lancet. 23 May 2018.
US Burden of Disease Collaborators. The State of US Health, 1990-2016: Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Among US States. JAMA. 10 April 2018; 319(14):1-33. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.0158
GBD 2015 Neurological Disorders Collaborator Group. Global, regional, and national burden of neurological disorders during 1990–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015. The Lancet Neurology. 17 Sept 2017. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(17)30299-5.
GBD 2016 Causes of Death Collaborators. Global, regional, and national age-sex specific mortality for 264 causes of death, 1980–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. The Lancet. 14 Sept 2017: 390;1151–210.
GBD 2016 DALYs and HALE Collaborators. Global, regional, and national disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for 333 diseases and injuries and healthy life expectancy (HALE) for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. The Lancet. 14 Sept 2017: 390;1260-344.
GBD 2016 Disease and Injury Incidence and Prevalence Collaborators. Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 328 diseases and injuries for 195 countries, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. The Lancet. 14 Sept 2017: 390; 1211–59.
GBD 2016 Risk Factors Collaborators. Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. The Lancet. 14 Sept 2017: 390;1345-1422.
GBD 2016 SDG Collaborators. Measuring progress and projecting attainment on the basis of past trends of the health-related Sustainable Development Goals in 188 countries: an analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. The Lancet. 12 Sept 2017: 390; 1423–59.