{"366681":{"#nid":"366681","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Modeling Ebola","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAn unprecedented Ebola epidemic has taken a deadly toll in West Africa, spurring an international response on the ground \u2013 a response influenced, in part, by epidemiological models that predicted a frightening rise in cases, without large-scale changes in behavior and intervention.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EEpidemic models can play an invaluable role in curbing Ebola outbreaks, but they require careful examination, which was exactly the point of a workshop called \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/figshare.com\/articles\/Workshop_in_Brief_Modeling_the_Spread_and_Control_of_Ebola_in_W_Africa\/1301267\u0022\u003E\u201cModeling the Spread and Control of Ebola in West Africa,\u201d\u003C\/a\u003E January 22-23, at the Georgia Institute of Technology.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cThere is a growing coalition of modelers working at different scales \u2013 spanning the evolution of the virus to the localized transmission of disease in communities \u2013 who can contribute to the response effort on the ground,\u201d says Joshua Weitz, associate professor in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Biology, who chaired the workshop organizing committee. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMathematical models and modelers can help to inform decisions on which tools and interventions to use when responding to a devastating and complex outbreak, like the ongoing Ebola epidemic in West Africa. The meeting (at the Historic Academy of Medicine at Georgia Tech) reached capacity quickly and featured an all-star lineup of scientists, public health experts, and policy makers from different universities, industry, media and governmental institutions (including the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, the Executive Office of the President, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EParticipants focused on four central themes: predicting and interpreting initial outbreak dynamics, planning and evaluating interventions, real-time monitoring and surveillance, and modeling as a tool for communication. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cA central challenge is to link models with decision tools and policy,\u201d says Weitz, a member of the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, where his research areas include systems biology and molecular evolution. The workshop, he said, provided, \u0022an opportunity to examine the scientific and logistical challenges raised by Ebola and the communication challenges arising from explaining models and their interpretation to the public, public health professionals and policy-makers.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/figshare.com\/articles\/Workshop_in_Brief_Modeling_the_Spread_and_Control_of_Ebola_in_W_Africa\/1301267\u0022\u003EWorkshop in Brief\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/bioinformatics.gatech.edu\/ebola-modeling-workshop-downloads\u0022\u003EAdditional Workshop Info\/Downloads\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Experts gather at Georgia Tech for two-day workshop"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EExperts gather at Georgia Tech for two-day workshop\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Experts gather at Georgia Tech for two-day workshop"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2015-01-22 08:58:18","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:17:54","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-01-22T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2015-01-22T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"373651":{"id":"373651","type":"image","title":"Weitz - Ebola workshop","body":null,"created":"1449246186","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:23:06","changed":"1475894380","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:39:40","alt":"Weitz - Ebola workshop","file":{"fid":"75104","name":"weitzaddress.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/weitzaddress.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/weitzaddress.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":708585,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/weitzaddress.jpg?itok=IyBeFM7W"}}},"media_ids":["373651"],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/node\/jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}