Applied Epidemiology

Our team designs and implements studies generating evidence on the safety and immunogenicity, effectiveness, and impact of vaccines. Recently, we have worked alongside partners to measure the effectiveness of a vaccine against dengue in Brazil, the impact of typhoid conjugate vaccine in Pakistan, and the safety and immunogenicity of fractional dose vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, among other projects.

Underpinning the work of the Applied Epidemiology team is a commitment to the foundations of epidemiology through tracking the burden and spread of vaccine-preventable diseases. We work with hospital sites to conduct prospective clinical surveillance to monitor changes in disease burden, spread of antimicrobial resistance, and the impact of vaccine campaigns.

In all our research partnerships, Sabin provides an array of International Committee on Harmonization Good Clinical Practices activities, including bringing together research consortia, serving as study sponsor, designing protocols and training study teams, building data capture systems, monitoring study implementation and incoming data for quality control, and analyzing and disseminating results. All the while, our projects promote sustainability through capacity building for epidemiologic, laboratory, and analytical capabilities at our partner sites.

We conduct upstream work to characterize the burden of disease, generating evidence for decision-makers to make informed decisions on vaccine introduction. Currently, we are working with partners in Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan, as well as from Stanford University and Massachusetts General Hospital, to develop new, cost-effective serological surveillance tools for typhoid. These tools help us map typhoid’s burden of disease and support decision-makers as they consider how best to introduce life-saving vaccines.

We work with partners to provide data for decision-makers on the most cost-effective approaches to vaccine introduction. These activities optimize new vaccine introduction strategies and help communities see the life-saving benefits of vaccine introduction.

Our team doesn’t stop at the generation of data. Instead, we use the evidence produced through this high-caliber research to inform decision-making and set the agenda for global infectious disease prevention efforts. We transform the landscape for new advocacy and policy initiatives by coordinating global partnerships, convening decision-makers, and advocating for sustainable solutions. Most notably, Sabin is home to the Coalition against Typhoid (CaT), a global forum connecting researchers, advocates, practitioners and policy-makers to elevate typhoid, paratyphoid and invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella (iNTS) disease as global health priorities.