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Dear colleagues,

We appreciate your ongoing support of the UCI Infectious Disease Science Initiative (IDSI). Please see below highlights from the amazing accomplishments during the past few months from IDSI and affiliated faculty.

Regards,

Sanghyuk ShinDirector, Infectious Disease Science Initiative

New UCI Summer Biostatistics Institute for Undergraduate Students

ISI-BUDS 2022

Irvine Summer Institute in Biostatistics and Undergraduate Data ScienceJuly 11-August 18

ISI-BUDS is a NIH-funded six-week summer program introducing undergraduate students to the modern methodology and practice of biostatistics and data science. The program will highlight applications in cutting-edge biomedical research, will train students in the fundamentals of biostatistics, data science, and computing, and will culminate in a team project co-supervised by statisticians and biomedical scientists.

Support: there are no costs or fees associated with the program. Moreover, accepted participants will be provided with the following:

  • Up to $500 to cover travel expenses
  • Free housing that includes a meal plan (local students who do not need housing will receive a $2,500 stipend)
  • $600 stipend for incidental expenses

Application: check your eligibility and apply here. All students are encouraged to apply.

Funding: ISI-BUDS is supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R25AI170491, as one of the Summer Institutes in Biostatistics (SIBS) and Data Science. To learn about other SIBS visit the program webpage.

Important Dates:

  • Applications due - May 1
  • Results announced - May 15
  • ISI-BUDS dates - July 11-August 18

Read more on this summer opportunity

Association Between HIV Coinfection and Delayed Diagnosis with Tuberculosis Bacterial Load in Setting with Widespread Antiretroviral Therapy Use

Juliana Chalfin, Chelsea Baker, and Sanghyuk Shin

Juliana S. Chalfin, Chelsea R. Baker, Dr. Sanghyuk S. Shin

Juliana Chalfin, Chelsea Baker, and Sanghyuk Shin

The purpose of this study was to determine associations between HIV coinfection and TB bacterial load, including differences in duration of symptoms, in a high prevalence setting. This could contribute to understanding how HIV-coinfection affects infectiousness and transmission risk of TB in the current era of widespread ART use.

Read more on this research paper

The U.S. Appealed to Reinstate Masks. But Is It Seeking to Win?

Michele Goodwin

Dr. Michele Bratcher GoodwinChancellor's Professor of Law, UCI School of LawIDSI Faculty Advisory Board member

Michele Goodwin, Chancellor's Professor of Law, who specializes in health policy, said the standards for winning a request to stay a judicial order can be even higher than for an appeal. … "Losing sends a very strong message, and not just for the matter that happens to be at hand, but for other cases related to public health and safety," she said.

Read more about this article

Geographical Patterns of Social Cohesion Drive Disparities in Early COVID-19 Infection Hazard

Carter Butts

Dr. Carter ButtsChancellor's Professor, Department of Sociology, and Professor, Statistics, Electrical Engineering and Computer ScienceIDSI Faculty Advisory Board member

The uneven spread of COVID-19 has resulted in disparate experiences for marginalized populations in urban centers. Using computational models, the effects of local cohesion on COVID-19 spread in social contact networks for the city of San Francisco is examined, finding that more early COVID-19 infections occur in areas with strong local cohesion. This spatially correlated process tends to affect Black and Hispanic communities more than their non-Hispanic White counterparts. Local social cohesion thus acts as a potential source of hidden risk for COVID-19 infection.

Read more about this research

Providing Care to Underserved Communities in Orange County: An Interview with Dr. Mayorga, Executive Director of UCI Health Family Centers and Affiliated Faculty of IDSI

Jose Mayorga

Dr. José MayorgaExecutive Director, UCI Health, Family Health Centers and IDSI Affiliated Faculty

A deeper look on Dr. José Mayorga's work and involvement during the pandemic, going over critical issues communities are facing now and COVID-19 variants as well as other infectious diseases.

View the interview recording

Read the transcript

"You're only as healthy as the poorest communities that surrounding you."

COVID-19 Trends by UCI

UCI Offers Data on Numbers of COVID-19 Cases and Deaths in Orange County and all of California

This is an effort to provide timely and understandable COVID-19 data visualizations to the public in Orange County. The effort is coordinated by the UCI COVID Awareness Group, which consists of students and faculty from the following UCI units: Department of Statistics, Program in Public Health, Center for Virus Research, and Infectious Disease Science Initiative.

See the data