Andrew Lover is an assistant professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, at UMass-Amherst. His research covers a broad range of infectious disease epidemiology, including tick-borne disease; surveillance and forecasting; malaria; and the design, implementation, and analysis of complex epidemiological studies, in both domestic (Western Massachusetts) and global contexts (including Vietnam, Lao PDR, Timor-Leste, and Cambodia).
SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19. He is currently supporting global efforts to mitigate the impacts of this pandemic. This work includes a faculty role in UMass campus response; syndromic surveillance and modeling studies; and implementation of a large-scale serological survey (“antibody test”) across Massachusetts. This study (Sero-Mass) enrolled ca. 1,250 participants across the Commonwealth in the Summer 2020; preliminary results are expected in the fall.
Tick-borne infections. The Lover Lab has recently received funding (September 2020) from the NIH for tick-borne studies in Western Massachusetts. These novel spatial case-control studies will aim to identify areas with highest human-tick overlaps, to help optimize public health tick surveillance programs in New England and beyond. More info here: (https://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_description.cfm?aid=10057722).
His lab currently consists of two PhD students (Estee Cramer and Teah Snyder) and an MS student (Johanna Ravenhurst) and all are actively involved in SARS-CoV-2 public health response, including contact tracing, and modeling. Their main research studies involve a combination of qualitative and quantitative field data collection, quantitative analysis, and modeling to directly inform public health policy.
Research Fellow, 2018
University of California, San Francisco
PhD in Epidemiology, 2015
National University of Singapore
MPH in Epidemiology and Global Health, 2011
National University of Singapore
MS in Organic Chemistry, 2003
University of California, Santa Barbara
BA in Chemistry, 1997
Earlham College
Abstract: Human infections with a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) were first identified via syndromic surveillance in December of 2019 in Wuhan China. Since identification, infections (coronavirus disease-2019; COVID-19) caused by this novel pathogen have spread globally, with more than 180,000 confirmed cases as of March 16, 2020.