Wan Yang, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Yang is interested in understanding mechanisms governing disease systems, for devising prevention and intervention strategies. For infectious diseases, her recent work applies mathematical modeling and Bayesian inference methods to study the transmission dynamics of influenza, Ebola, measles, and COVID-19. She is also developing forecast systems to predict outbreaks of infectious diseases. In addition, she studies how environmental factors influence the transmission of respiratory infections and seasonality. For chronic diseases, Dr. Yang studies risk factors underlying the recent rise in early onset cancers; her work on this front is supported by a DSI/IICD seed grant.