Bio
Jacob is a postdoctoral scholar in the PETAL Lab at UC Berkeley, where he develops and applies infectious disease transmission models to assess the impact of public health interventions, with particular focus on filoviruses such as Ebola. His research contributes to pandemic preparedness and the elimination of diseases that disproportionately affect vulnerable populations around the world. He completed his PhD in infectious disease epidemiology at Imperial College London, where he used individual-based stochastic models to investigate the dynamics of onchocerciasis transmission and elimination in sub-Saharan Africa. This work included field collaboration with CDC in rural Ghana, and the coordination of a multi-country research network to consolidate unused datasets. Prior to his PhD, he earned Master’s degrees from the University of Warwick and Imperial College London, building a broad foundation in biomedical science and quantitative research. He also worked in the pharmaceutical industry, where he supported
evidence-based claims for consumer healthcare products. Outside of research, he is an aviation enthusiast and avid traveller, having visited 114 countries.