Justin
T
Lessler
,
PhD

Professor
- Adjunct
Justin Lessler

Center & Institute Affiliations

Research Profile View Current Courses

Contact Info

jlessler@unc.edu

Research Interests

influenza; RSV; measles; cholera; infectious disease dynamics

Additional Links

Infectious Disease Dynamics Group
Experiences & Accomplishments
Education
MHS
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
2008
PhD
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
2008
MS
Stanford University
2003
BS
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
1996
Overview
The major focus of my research is the development and application of statistics, dynamic models and novel study designs to better understand and control infectious disease. In particular, I am interested in creating synergies between infection control practice, data collection and infectious disease dynamics. Exemplary of this goal, my collaborators and I have developed methods to estimate the distribution of incubation periods for an infectious disease using coarse data, applied these methods to develop the best available estimates for a number of viruses, and showed how these estimates can be used to improve infection control practice. 
My current research projects include work on the transmission dynamics of influenza in southern China, and the most effective use of vaccine in the control of measles and cholera. 
I am a member of the Infectious Disease Dynamics group.
Select Publications

  • Azman, A.*, Luquero, F.J., Rodrigues, A., Palma, P.P., Grais, R.F., Na Banga, C., Grenfell, B.T., Lessler, J.† (2012) Urban Cholera Transmission Hotspots and their Implications for Reactive Vaccination: Evidence from Bissau City, Guinea Bissau. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 6:e1901.doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001901

  • Rainwater-Lovett, K.*, Rodriguez-Barraquer, I.*, Cummings, D.A.T., Lessler, J.† (2012) Variation in dengue virus plaque reduction neutralization testing: systematic review and pooled analysis. BMC Infectious Disease [Epub ahead of print]. doi:10.1186/1471-2334-12-233

  • Edlund, S., Davis, M., Douglas, J.V., Kershenbaum, A., Narongrit, W., Lessler, J., Kaufman, J. H. (2012) A global model of malaria climate sensitivity: comparing malaria response to historic climate data based on simulation and officially reported malaria incidence. Malaria Journal [Epub ahead of print].doi:10.1186/1475-2875-11-331

  • Lessler, J., Riley, S., Read, J.M., Wang, S., Zhu, H., Smith, J.D.S., Guan, Y., Jiang, C.Q., Cummings, D.A.T. (2012) Evidence for Antigenic Seniority in Influenza A (H3N2) Antibody Responses in Southern China. PLoS Pathogens 8:e1002802. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1002802

  • Read, J.M., Edmunds, W.J., Riley, S., Lessler, J., Cummings, D.A.T. (2012) Close encounters of the infectious kind: methods to measure social mixing behaviour. Epidemiology and Infection 140:2117-2130. doi:10.1017/S0950268812000842

Projects
Planning For Avian Influenza Outbreaks And Potential Pandemics In Thailand
Immune landscapes of human influenza in southern China
Vaccine Modeling Initiative
Spatial Patterns of Cholera Transmission and the Performance of Reactive Vaccination in and Epidemic Setting
Intervention Effects for Influenza
Multiplex oral fluid antibody assay for arbovirus diagnosis, surveillance and prevention