Sites - South Africa
South Africa Centre of Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (SACEMA)
Institute:
SACEMA is hosted and administered by Stellenbosch University, but serves as a national centre of excellence supported by the South African Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation. The newly renovated facilities at SACEMA include distributed computing infrastructure, high quality internet connections, office space, classrooms, and other research resources required for mathematical modeling and simulation, software development, and storage of large data sets. The Centre also includes residential quarters for visiting scholars. The research environment at SACEMA is enriched by a leading scientific staff, frequent visiting collaborators, a large cohort of PhD students and postdoctoral fellows, and students from the nearby African Institute of Mathematical Sciences, which has close ties with the Centre.
Host Investigator:
Dr. John Hargrove worked for more than 30 years in the field of tsetse fly biology and control, applying mathematical analytical and modelling techniques in the field of physiology, behaviour and population dynamics. Over the past several years he has been involved in the analysis and modelling of HIV/AIDS data in his native Zimbabwe. His particular current interests are in analysing, interpreting and modelling the declining HIV prevalence levels in Zimbabwe, which he detected first in 2004, and in developing mathematical adjustments of use in estimating HIV incidence from cross-sectional surveys.
UC Berkeley Investigator:
Dr. Wayne Getz is a Professor of Environmental Science, Policy and Management. His research group tracks disease transmission dynamics across multiple levels of biological organization—from pathogen genetics to animal behavior and population ecology—using computer simulation, mathematical modeling, and geospatial analysis. In 2003, he co-founded SACEMA. Opportunities for students in the Getz lab include projects tracking bovine TB transmission in animal and human populations in South Africa, as well as mathematical modeling studies of HIV/AIDS and TB spread using data from South African national and regional departments of health. The group is also interested in the evolution of pathogenicity and drug resistance of viral and bacterial pathogens, with an emphasis on HIV and tuberculosis (TB) epidemiology.
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