DrOliverRatmann

Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health

Sir Henry Wellcome Research Fellow

Contact

+44 (0)20 7594 1451oliver.ratmann05 Website

Location

G35Medical SchoolSt Mary's Campus

Summary

Welcome to my homepage!

I am a statistical evolutionary epidemiologist. My focus is on the use of viral molecular genetic data to improve our quantitative understanding of the epidmiology of infectious diseases.

My recent work focuses on HIV molecular epidemiology in Western Europe among men having sex with men, especially in the Netherlands and in the United Kingdom as part of the evolutionary epidemiology research group lead by Professor Christophe Fraser. I collaborate with researchers at the Dutch HIV monitoring foundation, the UK collaborative group on HIV drug resistance and CASCADE, concerted action on seroconverters to AIDS and death in Europe. I am also involved in the phylogenetic working group of the HPTN071/ PopART HIV prevention trial in South Africa and Zambia.

I am part of the PANGEA-HIV phylogenetic analysis group and serve on the PANGEA-HIV steering committee. PANGEA-HIV is a major new initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to generate a large volume of full genome HIV sequences from partnering cohort sites in sub-Saharan Africa, and to provide the tools to analyse these data. Together with researchers at the University of Edinburgh, Christophe Fraser and I coordinate the PANGEA-HIV phylogenetic methods comparison exercise.

At Duke University, I previously worked on influenza A (H3N2) phylodynamics with Dr. Katia Koelle.

Last but not least, I contribute to the methodological development of Approximate Bayesian Computations (advanced ABC MCMC sampling strategies, model criticism with ABC, variable selection with ABC, and accurate ABC inference), which I started back in 2005 and pursued throughout my PhD with Prof. Sylvia Richardson.

Some of the methods that I helped to develop are on github, and some recent presentations are on slideshare.

I am very grateful to the Wellcome Trust for the long-standing financial support I receive, first through a 4 year Wellcome Trust PhD studentship and then through a 4 year postdoctoral Sir Henry Wellcome fellowship.

Publications

Jombart T, Aanensen DM, Baguelin M, et al.Jombart T, Aanensen DM, Baguelin M, Birrell P, Cauchemez S, Camacho A, Colijn C, Collins C, Cori A, Didelot X, Fraser C, Frost S, Hens N, Hugues J, Hohle M, Opatowski L, Rambautm A, Ratmann O, Soubeyrand S, Suchard MA, Wallinga J, Ypma R, Ferguso N close, 2014, OutbreakTools: A new platform for disease outbreak analysis using the R software, Epidemics, Vol:7, ISSN:1755-4365, Pages:28-34

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Ratmann O, Donker G, Meijer A, et al.Ratmann O, Donker G, Meijer A, Fraser C, Koelle K close, 2012, Phylodynamic Inference and Model Assessment with Approximate Bayesian Computation: Influenza as a Case Study, Plos Computational Biology, Vol:8, ISSN:1553-7358, Pages:-

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Arinaminpathy N, Ratmann O, Koelle K, et al.Arinaminpathy N, Ratmann O, Koelle K, Epstein SL, Price GE, Viboud C, Miller MA, Grenfell BT close, 2012, Impact of cross-protective vaccines on epidemiological and evolutionary dynamics of influenza, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol:109, ISSN:0027-8424, Pages:3173-3177

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Camacho A, Ballesteros S, Graham AL, et al.Camacho A, Ballesteros S, Graham AL, Carrat F, Ratmann O, Cazelles B close, 2011, Explaining rapid reinfections in multiple-wave influenza outbreaks: Tristan da Cunha 1971 epidemic as a case study., Proc Biol Sci, Vol:278, ISSN:0962-8452, Pages:3635-3643

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Open Access Link

Koelle K, Ratmann O, Rasmussen DA, et al.Koelle K, Ratmann O, Rasmussen DA, Pasour V, Mattingly J close, 2011, A dimensionless number for understanding the evolutionary dynamics of antigenically variable RNA viruses, Proceedings of the Royal Society B-biological Sciences, Vol:278, ISSN:0962-8452, Pages:3723-3730

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Author Web Link
Open Access Link

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