Prof Melissa Penny is a professor at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) and the University of Basel. Currently Head of the Disease Dynamics unit at Swiss TPH, she has more than 14 years’ experience in developing mathematical and computational models in order to provide quantitative evidence to support infectious disease control and elimination decisions.
Her most recent research focuses on data analysis and the development of mathematical models and algorithms in order to understand parasite, host and intervention dynamics, with the goal of informing decisions during product development through to implementation and policy recommendations. This work includes new approaches using mechanistic models to inform quantitative target product profiles for novel malaria tools and, under BRCCH funding, to inform novel medical interventions against SARS-Cov-2.
Prof Penny is also a member of the Data and Modelling expert group of the Swiss National COVID-19 Science Taskforce, which develops and applies simulation models to inform decisions on novel medical interventions against COVID-19 in Switzerland.
