Dr Kathleen M O'Reilly

I am interested in the use of mathematical and statistical models to inform control of infectious diseases in humans and animals. As a Research Associate at Imperial, I am focussing on the control and eradication of polio from endemically-affected countries. This work, led by Dr. Nicholas Grassly, is supported by the World Health Organisation, and involves close collaboration with experts in polio epidemiology. I started at Imperial in May 2009.

I have been examining the effectiveness of the oral polio vaccine (OPV) in controlling the incidence of poliomyelitis in Pakistan and Afghanistan, both have endemic polio. Research will focus on developing optimal control strategies, for example determining which OPV to use during immunisation days according to projected population immunity. I have also examined determinants of outbreaks in polio-free countries in Africa, and explored how different immunisation schedules may affect the likelihood of future outbreaks. This research was published in PLoS Medicine in October 2011

Prior to Imperial I was a post-doc at the University of Glasgow (2007-2009), within the Boyd Orr Centre. I worked on many disease systems, including foot-and-mouth disease and E. coli, with the aim of developing methods to improve surveillance of livestock diseases in Scotland.  I have also worked at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (2006-2007), where I worked on the epidemiology and control of Salmonella in pigs. 

I studied for a PhD at Warwick University (2002-2006), and was supervised by Laura Green and Graham Medley. Mathematical models were developed to determine suitable strategies for control of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis infection, which causes caseous lymphadenitis in sheep. Prior to my PhD I published work on determining risk factors for mastitis in dairy cows and pre-weaning mortality in pigs.