October 17, 2014
Never Fear the Unknown: What I Learned from Math Modeling
Even though there are fewer people in the United States that have tuberculosis (TB), this disease remains a serious threat worldwide, especially for people living with HIV. My internship took place at the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. I was given the opportunity to learn the compartmental difference-equation model and R coding with my mentors. Throughout this internship, we reproduced the results of the published literature on the potential impact of enhanced diagnostic techniques for TB/HIV co-infection. We investigated TB prevalence, incidence and mortality in a hypothetical population of one million, according to different diagnostic techniques. In addition, we conducted sensitivity analysis in order to find the influence of each model parameter on mortality. This presentation will inform my audience about the simple processes of establishing the model. I will address questions relating to the procedures in building a difference-equation model. I will also explain the importance of this internship and how to apply.
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