Kimberly Powers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- The University of New Mexico
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
Kimberly A. Powers | |
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| Alma mater | |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions |
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| Thesis | HIV transmission dynamics: Infectivity, sexual partnership patterns, and the role of early infection (2010) |
| Doctoral advisor | Myron S. Cohen |
Kimberly A. Powers is an American epidemiologist who is an associate professor of epidemiology at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. She combines epidemiology, statistics and mathematical modelling to understand the transmission of infectious diseases. In 2011 her work on antiretroviral therapy for the management of human immunodeficiency virus was selected by Science as the breakthrough of the year. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Powers looked to understand the spread of SARS-CoV-2.
As a child Powers considered becoming as physician.[1] She eventually studied mathematics at Hamilton College and graduated in 1998. After graduating she joined a healthcare consultancy, where she was first introduced to epidemiology.[1] She spent a year at The University of New Mexico where she studied tobacco use in the community.[1] In 2002 she moved to Los Alamos National Laboratory, where she worked as a graduate assistant in the biophysics group.[1] There she developed mathematical models that could describe viral transmission.[1] She was eventually accepted as a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she eared a Master's in Public Health. During her second year at UNC she saw a talk from Myron S. Cohen, and became interest in the use of antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV.[1] She remained at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for her doctoral studies, where she studied the transmission dynamics of HIV in the laboratory of Cohen.[2] During her doctoral research, Cohen realised that Powers would need formal training in epidemiology.[1] She spent one year in the United Kingdom, studying at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Imperial College London.[1] In particular, her research considered acute- and early-stage HIV infection in Lilongwe.[1] She spent weeks at a time visiting a STD clinic in Lilongwe, where she looked to improve patient care as well as track trends in HIV transmission.[1]
