Marc Lipsitch

Marc Lipsitch is the Berberian Professor at the Center for International Security and Cooperation, Freeman-Spogli Institute, and Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and Biology. He studies the impact of immunity, and of medical and public health interventions on the populations of pathogenic microbes, and the consequences of these changes for human health. This work uses approaches including mathematical modeling, population genomics, causal inference, descriptive epidemiology, and experimental biology. Areas of specific interest include the evolution of Streptococcus pneumoniae under vaccine pressure, the causes and consequences of antimicrobial resistance, and pandemic preparedness and response. In the area of science policy, he works on the ethics of vaccine evaluation and the regulation of research that creates infectious disease risk. Areas of special interest within causal inference include vaccine effect estimation at the individual and population level, the use of negative controls, and the application of causal approaches to antimicrobials.