Scott McDonald develops methodological approaches to estimate disease burden and incidence, drawing upon both statistical and dynamic modelling techniques. Current and recent projects include time-series and spatial analyses of historical infectious disease data, developing evidence synthesis frameworks for national incidence of seasonal influenza estimation and for source attribution of food-borne diseases.
He is currently involved in the international collaborative project VITAL, which aims to investigate healthy ageing, immune function, and the health burden of (potentially) vaccine-preventable diseases in older adults. He is also a member of the European Burden of Disease Network, which aims to build capacity and share knowledge in burden of disease assessment.
Background
Scott McDonald received his PhD in cognitive science from the University of Edinburgh, UK, in 2000. Following several years of post-doctoral research in experimental psychology at the University of Edinburgh, he accepted a position at Health Protection Scotland, Glasgow, on a Chief Scientist Office-funded project to estimate the current and future burden of hepatitis C infection and the interaction with problem alcohol use in the injecting drug user populaton.
After a move to the Netherlands to obtain his MSc in infectious disease epidemiology, he started work at the Centre for Infectious Disease Control in 2011, and joined the Mathematical Modelling project group in 2012.