CSDE Former Director & Affiliate Martina Morris, CSDE Development Core Director Steve Goodreau, and CSDE Affiliate Samuel Jenness will be offering two modules pertaining to Network Modeling for Epidemics using EpiModel at this year’s SISMID (Summer Institute in Statistics and Modeling in Infectious Diseases).

Both modules are in person in Atlanta.

Network Modeling for Epidemics I: July 21-23. This module is ideal for those who are starting out with EpiModel, or who want a refresher. It is roughly equivalent to a condensed version of the old NME workshop in Seattle.

Network Modeling for Epidemics I (NME-I) introduces stochastic network models for infectious disease transmission dynamics. It is a ‘’hands-on’’ course, using the EpiModel software package in R. EpiModel software provides a unified framework for statistically based modeling of dynamic networks from empirical data, and simulation of epidemic dynamics over these networks. This explicit modeling of networks is essential for accurate projections when the contacts that enable transmission are sparse, highly structured, heterogeneous and/or evolving over time.

Network Modeling for Epidemics II: July 23-25. This module is ideal for those who have taken or will take NME-I, either this year or last year at SISMID, or else in Seattle in years pass.

Network Modeling for Epidemics II extends the material in NME-I to developing research-level applications of EpiModel and its underlying TERGM statistical framework.  Here, we focus on learning how to use the application programming interface (API) in EpiModel to design and program epidemic model components (or “modules”) that define a network-based epidemic model for a specific research question. The goal is to enable students to build EpiModel extensions to represent any infectious disease component in a system of interest.

The Gates Foundation recently announced a Grand Challenges request for proposals for a Randomized Controlled Trial on Sexual Transmitted Infections (STIs) and Reproductive Tract Sequelae in Non-Pregnant Women. The goal is to support rigorous clinical research to evaluate the prevention, diagnosis, and management of STIs and their long-term reproductive consequences, such as pelvic inflammatory disease. The submission deadline is Monday, July 7, at 11:30 AM Pacific Daylight Time.

This Grand Challenge is part of our ongoing effort to address the problem of neglect in women’s health research and development, as highlighted by Anita Zaidi, the Gates Foundation’s President of Gender Equality Division, in her keynote speech on the second day of this year’s Grand Challenges Annual Meeting. The annual meeting was held virtually this week, and if you were unable to attend in real time, we encourage you to view videos from the plenary sessions focused on clinical research and trials, women’s health, and regulatory harmonization.

Please review the full details for this opportunity on our Grand Challenges website. We are planning a webinar to provide more information and answer your questions on June 17 from 7:00-8:00 AM Pacific Time. To participate, please register and submit your questions ahead of time.

We are eager to hear from experts around the world. Please forward this email to colleagues who may be interested in applying. If you were forwarded this message, please sign up on the Grand Challenges website to receive emails announcing grant opportunities.

As always, we invite you to read summaries of selected Grand Challenges grants. They are sortable by dropdown menus, so you can quickly find, for example, the 23 awards related to women’s health. You can also explore Grand Challenges projects using this interactive world map.

 

Description: This workshop aims to introduce basic tools and functions of R for reading, management and examining datasets. Attendees are assumed to have little to no experience with R.

• Instructor: Alireza Aminkhaki, CSSCR Consultant
• Date:  Wednesday, July 9, 2025
• Time: 11:00am – 12:20pm
• Location: Savery 121 (Small Lab)
• Register here.

The Latino/a/x/e community faces unique challenges, and there remains a shortage of wellness programs that reflect the language, values, and lived experiences of Latino/a/x/e young adults. In an op-ed published in WA Latino News, CSDE Affiliate Griselda Martinez describes a tool called Conéctate Contigo Mismo that launched in May 2025. This is a free, anonymous, online tool available 24/7 to anyone seeking support. This project is led by Dr. Christine Lee at the Center for the Study of Health and Risk Behaviors. Read the op-ed here.

Alzheimer disease and related dementias (ADRD) have significant health consequences for individuals, families, employers, and governments. African American and Latino adults likely face disproportionate economic burdens from ADRD because of differences in biological and non-biological processes including high prevalence rates and associated comorbidities, less access and lower quality education, and low access to quality health care, including lack of specialists and minoritized health care practitioners in general. In a recent study, CSDE Affiliate Stipica Mudrazija (Health Systems and Population Health) and co-authors assess ADRD’s economic burden on non-Latino African American, Latino, and non-Latino White adults and their caregivers, employers, and the government from 2020 and 2060 using a nationally representative dataset combining data from multiple agencies and surveys. The study shows that African American and Latino older adults with ADRD and their families are likely to face disproportionately high burdens, primarily associated with unpaid caregiving. Read the full study here.

On June 12th, CSDE External Affiliate David Swanson (UC Riverside) presented  “A new approach to probabilistic population forecasting with an application to Estonia” at the Nordic Demographic Symposium. Based on work with Jeff Tayman, this presentation applies measures of uncertainty to existing population forecasts using Estonia as a case study. The measures of forecast uncertainty are relatively easy to calculate and meet several important criteria used by demographers who routinely generate population forecasts. This paper applies the uncertainty measures to a population forecast based on the Cohort-Component Method, which links the probabilistic world forecast uncertainty to demographic theory, an important consideration in developing accurate forecasts. Read the full abstract here.

Swanson extends his thanks to his colleagues at the Estonian Institute for Population Research who kindly provided comments and suggestions when he presented an earlier version of the paper to them the week preceding the Nordic Demographic Symposium.

The Center for Aging, Climate, and Health (CACHE) recently announced seed funding for projects integrating social and environmental data to examine the intersections of aging, climate, and health. CACHE anticipates making 2-3 awards of $20,000 and several smaller awards at $7,500. The deadline to apply is June 20, 2025. Learn more and apply here.