Rebecca Prevots, Ph.D., M.P.H.

The Epidemiology and Population Studies Unit leads population-based and clinical epidemiologic research on mycobacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic conditions. The unit leverages a broad array of epidemiological methods:

• Disease burden studies using national morbidity and mortality datasets (hospital discharge datasets, Medicare, Electronic Medical Records, registries) , as well as population-based data from integrated health care systems (HMOs)
• Multivariable modeling, e.g. integrated analysis of observational cohorts with clinical and microbiologic data to identify relative host and pathogen contributions to infection and disease, including molecular and genetic markers of disease susceptibility and progression
• Geospatial models to identify disease clustering and environmental predictors of disease
• Machine learning
• Household transmission studies

Using these methods, the Epidemiology and Population Studies Unit conducts pre- and post-licensure vaccine evaluation; defines optimal clinical endpoints for clinical trials of vaccines or new therapeutics; evaluates data underlying science-to-policy issues; designs clinical and population-based studies; develops and tests hypotheses regarding disease prevalence, trends, and risk factors; develops "electronic phenotypes" and clinical algorithms for selected infectious diseases.

In particular, the Epidemiology and Population Studies Unit has conducted studies of nontuberculous mycobacterial lung disease in the United States and globally to establish the disease burden of this condition, as well as to identify risk factors for disease susceptibility and progression, including pathogen and host genetic factors. We have used population-based studies applying geospatial analytic methods to identify environmental determinants of NTM pulmonary disease, and studies in high risk areas of the US using these approaches are ongoing. Clinical-epidemiologic studies are examining racial\ethnic disparities in disease prevalence in high risk areas, and the relative contributions of clinical, environmental, and genetic factors to these patterns.

More recently, the Epidemiology and Population Studies Unit has been collaborating with the National Cancer Institute and the Costa Rican Agency for Biomedical Research (ACIB) to design and implement studies of SARS-CoV-2 household transmission. The Epidemiology and Population Studies Unit interacts with a wide range of independent research groups.

Dr. Prevots joined NIAID in 2003 to build an epidemiology research group and enhance epidemiologic capacity within NIAID. In 2007 she became head of the newly created Epidemiology and Population Studies Unit within the intramural program at NIAID and has led fundamental studies to establish the burden of nontuberculous mycobacterial disease in the United States, and to identify clinical and environmental risk factors for disease susceptibility and progression. Dr Prevots began her public health research career at the New York City Department of Health in 1985, working as a public health advisor in the AIDS surveillance and epidemiology unit. From there she went to the University of Michigan, where she earned her M.P.H. in 1988 and her Ph.D. in epidemiology in 1991. Upon completing her Ph.D., she joined the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Unit now leads and supports research on a range of other infectious diseases, including leading COVID epidemiology studies, as well as other infection conditions.