Annika Gunderson
Annika, a Texas native, is a graduate student in the Epidemiology department at UNC-Chapel Hill pursuing her PhD. Her current interests include disease transmission of malaria, transmission risks associated with human movement, understanding the gaps in prevention strategies, and international development. She hopes to further her work by expanding into the use of spatial analysis.
At UNC, Gundeson works with Dr. Ross Boyce on a variety of projects in rural Uganda. These projects include looking into the use of expired mRDTs for case identification, location and impacts of various mosquito breeding sites, clustering of pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria case, and novel bednet dissemination strategies. She is currently focused on assisting on the initial phases of a new study lead by Dr. Boyce looking at the impacts of chemoprophylaxis and insecticide use immediately after flooding events on the risk of malaria in children in Kasese, Uganda.
She also continues her work with William Pan and Mark Janko at the University down the road (Duke) compiling data and conducting analyses to investigate the role of cross-border and short-term migration in the Amazon Rainforest in the spread of malaria with the goal of predicting periods of high transmission. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, traveling (abroad and to the US national parks), playing chess, and trivia nights with her classmates.