My primary research focus is the ecology and transmission of infectious diseases and their effects on human populations. I am particularly interested in the geographic spread of human infectious diseases in both historical and modern populations and the ways that human social behaviors promote or limit that spread. I am also interested in the demography of living and past populations.

Present research projects focus on a) an examination of the relationship of socioeconomic and demographic factors and the spread of the 1918 influenza and COVID-19 pandemics in Missouri counties, b) a comparison of the spread of the 1918-19 influenza epidemic and other epidemics in Labrador and Alaska, and c) the spread of multiple acute pathogens (especially influenza and measles) within a context of chronic tuberculosis and malnutrition in Newfoundland and Labrador during the first half of the 20th century. I specialize in both historical and demographic analyses and in developing and analyzing results from mathematical and computer modeling of the spread of infectious diseases, with a present emphasis on the development of agent-based computer simulation models.

I am no longer accepting graduate students. If you are a student or researcher working in an area related to what I study, feel free to contact me with questions and comments about my or your own work.