Amelie Desvars-Larrive

Amelie Desvars-Larrive serves as Associate Professor in Infection Epidemiology at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, where she leads research in the Unit of Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology. She simultaneously holds a Faculty Member position at the Complexity Science Hub Vienna, contributing to interdisciplinary research on complex health systems. Her academic appointments reflect her bridging of veterinary medicine, public health, and data science through the One Health framework that integrates human, animal, and environmental health perspectives.

Dr. Desvars-Larrive earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and later completed a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Saint-Denis, La Réunion, France, with research conducted at the Centre for Research and Monitoring of Emerging Diseases in the Indian Ocean (CRVOI). Her professional journey includes field epidemiology work in the Indian Ocean region, postdoctoral research at Umeå University in Sweden focusing on tularemia epidemiology, and subsequent research on urban brown rats and zoonotic diseases at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna.

Her research program centers on infectious disease epidemiology with particular emphasis on zoonotic and emerging diseases that cross species barriers. She specializes in mathematical modeling of disease transmission, investigation of rat-borne pathogens in urban environments, and application of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data principles to animal health datasets. Her work examines how human activities and environmental changes influence disease emergence and spread, with direct applications to public health policy and animal management strategies. This approach integrates field epidemiology with computational methods to unravel complex disease systems across multiple scales.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong trajectory toward integrated One Health applications, with research spanning European contexts, African countries (particularly Rwanda), and urban environments worldwide. Her work demonstrates consistent focus on antimicrobial resistance in animal populations, zoonotic pathogens including Leptospira and SARS-CoV-2, and development of frameworks for understanding complex disease interactions across species boundaries. Increasingly, her research incorporates advanced network analysis and data science methodologies to address epidemiological questions, reflecting her dual appointments at both veterinary and complexity science institutions.

• Principal Investigator for One Health modelling approach to SARS-CoV-2 (Vetmeduni internal funding, 2023-2027)
• Principal Investigator for LeptOspirose bei Rindern in Niederösterreich LORN (Land Niederösterreich funding, 2021-2024)
• Principal Investigator for An original structured open-source dataset of non-pharmaceutical interventions in response to COVID-19 (European Open Science Cloud funding)
• Management Committee Member for Cost Action 18208 HARMONY on test evaluation and disease prevalence estimation
• Member of the Austrian One Health Network leadership team

As an educator, Dr. Desvars-Larrive mentors multiple PhD students in veterinary public health and contributes to the PhD One Health Doctoral Program at Vetmeduni. Her research group operates at the intersection of veterinary epidemiology and complexity science, collaborating with international partners across Europe, Africa, and beyond. The team maintains strong connections with the Complexity Science Hub's Health Across Species research group, where they develop innovative approaches to understanding zoonotic disease transmission through network analysis, data visualization, and interdisciplinary modeling frameworks that connect human, animal, and environmental health data.