In recognition of the Centers for Disease Control-sponsored National Influenza Vaccination Week, December 2-8, Virginia Tech suggests these experts for journalists to feature in upcoming stories:

Linsey Marr is a professor of civil and environmental engineering whose research focuses on characterizing the emissions, fate, and transport of air pollutants in order to provide the scientific basis for improving air quality and health.

Marr can discuss the airborne transmission of the flu, including how characteristics like humidity, temperature, and size affect the movement of droplets containing the virus.

Expertise featured in The Washington Post and Science Daily.

Naren Ramakrishnan is the director of the Discovery Analytics Center at Virginia Tech. His research focuses on mining scientific datasets in areas such as computational epidemiology, systems biology, neuroscience, sustainability, and intelligence analysis. His expertise includes the rapidly emerging field of infectious disease forecasting using statistical and machine learning algorithms.

Ramakrishnan can discuss the utility — as well as the challenges — of using computer models to forecast influenza’s spread.

Expertise featured in Washington Business Journal, Newsweek, and Seattle Times.

Tom Ewing is a professor of history with expertise in medical history and public health, including the influenza pandemics of the 19th and 20th centuries.  

Ewing can discuss the historical implications of the flu, including 2018 being the 100-year anniversary of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.

Expertise featured in the Roanoke Times.

John Epling is a professor of family and community medicine at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. He completed a vaccine science fellowship with the American Academy of Family Physicians and researches and teaches the delivery of clinical preventive services.

Epling can discuss the importance of clinical preventive services such as vaccinations.

Expertise featured on NPR.

Schedule an interview

To secure an interview, email Jordan Fifer in the Media Relations office or call (540) 231-6997.

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Virginia Tech's television and radio studio can broadcast live HD audio and video to networks, news agencies, and affiliates interviewing Virginia Tech faculty, students, and staff. The university does not charge for use of its studio. Video is transmitted by LTN Global. Communications and fees may apply. Broadcast quality audio for radio is transmitted via ISDN.

 

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