Eben Kenah, PhD
Associate Professor
During my childhood, the HIV/AIDS pandemic began its terrible march across continents, bringing with it the lesson that infectious diseases remain extremely dangerous and unpredictable. Working as a biostatistician specializing in infectious disease epidemiology is rewarding both for its mathematical challenges and for its potential impact on public health. I love teaching epidemiologic and statistical methods because clear, rigorous public health research saves lives.
Areas of Research and Study
Survival analysis, Epidemiologic methods, Stochastic processes, Phylogenetics and causal inference
Education
ScD, Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health 2008
MS, Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health 2008
BA, Harvard University 2001
MS, Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health 2008
BA, Harvard University 2001
Courses
Selected Publications
Hegde ST, Sazzad HM, Hossain MJ, Alam MU, Kenah E, Daszak P, Rollin P, Rahman M, Luby SP, Gurley ES. (2016) Investigating Rare Risk Factors for Nipah Virus in Bangladesh: 2001-2012. Ecohealth. 2016 Dec;13(4):720-728. Epub 2016 Oct 13.
Rojas DP, Dean NE, Yang Y, Kenah E, Quintero J, Tomasi S, Ramirez EL, Kelly Y, Castro C, Carrasquilla G, Halloran ME, Longini IM. (2016) The epidemiology and transmissibility of Zika virus in Girardot and San Andres island, Colombia, September 2015 to January 2016. Euro Surveill. 2016 Jul 14;21(28). doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2016.21.28.30283.
Kenah E, Britton T, Halloran ME, Longini IM Jr. (2016) Molecular Infectious Disease Epidemiology: Survival Analysis and Algorithms Linking Phylogenies to Transmission Trees. PLoS Comput Biol. 2016 Apr 12;12(4):e1004869. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004869. eCollection 2016 Apr.
Yang Y, Zhang Y, Fang L, Halloran ME, Ma M, Liang S, Kenah E, Britton T, Chen E, Hu J, Tang F, Cao W, Feng Z, Longini IM Jr. (2015) Household transmissibility of avian influenza A (H7N9) virus, China, February to May 2013 and October 2013 to March 2014. Euro Surveill. 2015 Mar 12;20(10):21056.
E. Kenah (2015). Semiparametric relative-risk regression for infectious disease transmission data. Journal of the American Statistical Association 110(509): 313-325.
Y. Yang, Y. Zhang, L. Fang, M. E. Halloran, M. Ma, S. Liang, E. Kenah, T. Britton, E. Chen, J. Hu, F. Tang, W. Cao, Z. Feng, and I. M. Longini, Jr. (2015). Household transmissibility of avian influenza A(H7N9) virus, China, February to May 2013 and October 2013 to March 2014. Eurosurveillance 20(10): 21056.
Y. Yang, M. E. Halloran, Y. Chen, and E. Kenah (2014). A pathway EM algorithm for estimating vaccine efficacy with a non-monotone validation set. Biometrics 70(3): 568–578.
J. D Sugimoto, A. A. Kroepke, E. Kenah, M. E. Halloran, F. Chowdhury, A. I. Khan, R. C. LaRocque, Y. Yang, E. T. Ryan, F. Qadri, S. B. Calderwood, J. B. Harris, and I. M. Longini, Jr. (2014). Household transmission of Vibrio cholerae in Bangladesh. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 8(11): e3314.
S. Islam, E. Kenah, M. A. Bhuiyan, K. M. Rahman, B. Goodhew, C. M. Ghalib, M. M. Zahid, M. Ozaki, M. W. Rahman, R. Haque, S. P. Luby, J. H. Maguire, D. Martin, C. Bern (2013). Clinical and immunological aspects of post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis in Bangladesh. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 89(2): 345-353.
E. Kenah (2013). Nonparametric survival analysis of infectious disease data. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B. 75(2): 277-303.
S. Rahman, M. H. Huque, E. Kenah, M. Agboatwalla, and S. P. Luby (2013). Effect of recent diarrhoeal episodes on risk of pneumonia in children under the age of 5 years in Karachi, Pakistan. International Journal of Epidemiology 42(1): 194-200. Free article: http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/42/1/194.long
M. A. Rahman, M. J. Hossain, S. Sultana, N. Homaira, S. U. Khan, M. Rahman, E. S. Gurley, P. E. Rollin, M. K. Lo, J. A. Comer, L. Lowe, P. A. Rota, T. G. Ksiazek, E. Kenah, Y. Sharker, and S. P. Luby (2012). Date palm sap linked to Nipah virus outbreak in Bangladesh, 2008. Vector-Borne Zoonotic Diseases 12(1): 65-72.
E. Kenah, D. L. Chao, L. Matrajt, M. E. Halloran, and I. M. Longini, Jr. (2011). The global transmission and control of influenza. PLoS ONE 6(5): e19515.
E. Kenah and J. C. Miller (2011). Epidemic percolation networks, epidemic outcomes, and interventions. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Disease 2011: 543520.
E. Kenah (2011). Contact intervals, survival analysis of epidemic data, and estimation of R0. Biostatistics 12(3): 548-566.
A. K. Halder, E. Gurley, A. Naheed, S. K. Shah, A. Brooks, S. El Arifeen, H. M. S. Sazzad, E. Kenah, and S. Luby (2009). Causes of early childhood death in urban Dhaka, Bangladesh. PloS One 4(12): e8145.
K. M. Rahman, S. Islam, M. W. Rahman, E. Kenah, C. M. Galive, M. M. Zahid, J. Maguire, M. Rahman, R. Haque, S. P. Luby, and C. Bern (2010). Increasing incidence of post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis in a population-based study in Bangladesh. Clinical Infectious Diseases 50(1): 73-76. Free article: http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/50/1/73.long
S. P. Luby, M. J. Hossain, E. S. Gurley, B.-N. Ahmed, S. Banu, S. U. Khan, N. Homaira, P. A. Rota, P. E. Rollin, J. A. Comer, E. Kenah, T. G. Ksiazek, M. Rahman (2009). Recurrent zoonotic transmission of Nipah virus into humans in Bangladesh, 2001-2007. Emerging Infectious Diseases 15(8): 1229-35.
Y. Yang, J. Sugimoto, M. E. Halloran, N. E. Basta, D. Chao, L. Matrajit, G. Potter, E. Kenah, and I. M. Longini (2009). Transmissibility and control of Novel Influenza A(H1N1) virus. Science 326(5953): 729-733.
E. Goldstein, K. Paur, C. Fraser, E. Kenah, J. Wallinga, and M. Lipsitch (2009). Reproductive numbers, epidemic spread, and control in a community of households. Mathematical Biosciences 221(1): 11-25.
S. P. Luby, M. Agboatwalla, A. Bowen, E. Kenah, Y. Sharker, R. M. Hoekstra (2009). Difficulties in maintaining improved handwashing behavior, Karachi, Pakistan. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 81(1): 140-5. Free article: http://www.ajtmh.org/content/81/1/140.long
E. Kenah, M. Lipsitch, and J.M. Robins (2008). Generation interval contraction and epidemic data analysis. Mathematical Biosciences 213(1): 71-9.
