Youngji Jo, PhD, joins us as an assistant professor from the Boston University Clinical HIV/AIDS Research Training Program, Boston Medical Center. She has studied infectious diseases such as TB and HIV in the US and internationally, using statistical modeling to assess cost effectiveness of interventions and inform policy decisions.

Dr. Jo is an Assistant Professor/ Dr. Jo’s research approach 1) explores ways to construct health systems/cost-effectiveness models that account for epidemiologic factors as well as supply and demand-side constraints to improve efficiency, equity, and financial sustainability of the health system 2) elucidates the underlying processes and mechanisms that contribute to the outcome, beyond simple association and prediction, and 3) integrates new sources of data, methods, and practice, such as Digital Health, in expanding our  understanding of disease transmission pathways and improving current practice related to disease prevention and control. Her research has contributed to identifying the specific epidemic and health systems conditions and threshold points in which an intervention can achieve its optimal cost-effectiveness at scale or by targeting subpopulations. Dr. Jo’s current research interest includes developing a mathematical model to assess the clinical impact and cost-effectiveness for integrated and multi-month drug dispensing scenarios for people living with HIV and other chronic diseases to guide optimal drug dispensing strategy. Her long-term goals are to identify how dynamic trajectories of supply and demand-side factors might alter the existing understanding of causal relationships in the context of HIV/TB service delivery and develop a working model of health systems’ performance that can help design and implement HIV/TB prevention and treatment in resource-limited settings.