Lauren Meyers
CitizenshipAmerican
EducationBS, PhD
Alma materHarvard University, Stanford University
Scientific career
Doctoral advisorMarcus W. Feldman, PhD[1]

Lauren Ancel Meyers is an American integrative biologist who holds the Denton A. Cooley Centennial Professorship in Zoology at the University of Texas at Austin.[2] She is also a member of the Santa Fe Institute External Faculty.[3]

Career

Meyers earned her Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, in mathematics and philosophy at Harvard University (1996) and her PhD in biological sciences at Stanford University (2000).[1] She then did post-doctoral work with the National Science Foundation for two years.[2]

Meyers specializes in network epidemiology and works in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies on diseases such as COVID-19, pandemic influenza, Ebola, HIV, Swine flu,[4] and Zika.[3] When the COVID-19 pandemic appeared she quickly realized it presented a unique danger and had long feared about such a pandemic. Her team formed the COVID-19 Modeling Consortium and coordinates with the White House Coronavirus Task Force.[5][6] Meyers and other epidemiologists knew that the 2009 swine flu pandemic could have been much worse and that much better preparations for a future pandemic were needed. She is concerned that people will not take necessary precautions for the COVID-19 pandemic.[4] Her team discovered that every day of delay in implementing social distancing measures added 2.4 days to the length of an outbreak.[7] On 30 June 2020, she predicted that without major and quick behavior change at least some locales will require a Stage 5 (red) shutdown.[8] Meyers emphasizes that COVID-19 does spread silently.[9][10] Meyers further states that trait of COVID-19, coupled with its rapid transmission interval, only an average of 4 days, makes COVID-19 very dangerous. By comparison, this is very different from SARS, which has an 8-day transmission interval and is more visible.[9][11]

Academic positions

Honors and awards

Education

Selected publications

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z "Lauren Ancel Meyers" (PDF). University of Texas. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d "Lauren Ancel Meyers". University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Lauren Ancel Meyers". University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  4. ^ a b Heid, Jason (12 June 2020). "How a Texas Expert on Swine Flu Had to Change Her Game". Texas Monthly. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  5. ^ Cone, Tonyia (27 May 2020). "COVID-19 in Context: Epidemiologist and Community Member Dr. Lauren Ancel Meyers Predicts and Guides Coronavirus Decision Making". The Jewish Outlook. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  6. ^ Korte, Lara (24 April 2020). "Coronavirus in Texas: UT's top epidemiologist has been preparing for this fight for decades". The Statesman. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  7. ^ "For Each Day's Delay in Social Distancing, a COVID-19 Outbreak Lasts Days Longer". University of Texas News. 1 June 2020. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  8. ^ Thornton, Ryan (30 June 2020). "Without rapid behavior change, city heads for stage 5 shutdown". Austin Monitor. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  9. ^ a b "Coronavirus Spreads Quickly and Sometimes Before People Have Symptoms, Study Finds". University of Texas News. 16 March 2020. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  10. ^ Freer, Emma (10 June 2020). "COVID-19 'can and does spread silently' says UT's Lauren Ancel Meyers as Austin sees daily cases spike again". Austonia. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  11. ^ Meyers, Lauren (20 March 2020). "The secret life of coronavirus: Why we need such drastic social distancing measures". Economics Intelligence Unit. Retrieved 25 July 2020.

External links

Authority control databases: Academics
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