Why Population Heterogeneity Matters for Modelling Infectious Diseases

In this 35-minute lecture, explore how population heterogeneity significantly impacts infectious disease modeling and health equity outcomes. Dr. Sara Del Valle from Los Alamos National Laboratory presents research highlighting the COVID-19 pandemic's exposure of health disparities among different sociodemographic groups in the United States. Learn about the challenges of incorporating fine-grained sociodemographic attributes into disease models and discover how the EpiCast agent-based model addresses these issues by embedding population heterogeneity factors. Understand how variations in exposure risk across different settings contribute to inequitable disease burden outcomes, particularly related to household size and workplace exposure. Gain insights into how this modeling approach can inform more equitable policy interventions for future pandemics. Recorded March 6, 2025, as part of IPAM's LatMath 2025 Workshop.