معرفی
Irena Papst is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at McMaster University. Her research focuses on mathematical epidemiology, with an emphasis on modeling infectious disease dynamics, public health interventions, and the development of computational tools for disease surveillance. She has contributed to studies on seasonal flu vaccination strategies, age-dependent healthcare interventions during pandemics such as SARS-CoV-2, and the robustness of epidemic models under different seasonal forcing mechanisms.
Her work integrates mathematical modeling with real-world data analysis, particularly through the creation of the 'ern' R package for estimating effective reproduction numbers using clinical and wastewater surveillance data. This tool aids in understanding disease transmission patterns and informing public health decisions. Papst’s research highlights the importance of age-structured models in optimizing pandemic response strategies and evaluating healthcare resource allocation.
Teaching activities include instructing the course Introduction to Modelling (MATH 3MB3) in 2022, reflecting her commitment to educating future researchers in applied mathematical approaches to real-world problems.
