Francesco Di Lauro

I am a modeller with a background in Theoretical Physics and a PhD in Applied Maths. During my PhD, I worked on models for epidemic spreading on networks. I have also acquired experience in coding (mainly C, R, Python) and Statistics. You can find a list of my publications here. 

I joined the group of Christophe Fraser at the Pandemic Sciences Institute as a Postdoc in 2022.

My research centres on HIV epidemiology in sub-Saharan Africa and its structural difference with the epidemics in Europe and North America, combining large-scale trial and surveillance data with mechanistic models to understand how sexual partnership networks shape transmission and to evaluate interventions. In particular, I work on quantitative analyses of data from HPTN 071 (PopART) trial within the [PANGEA consortium] collaboration, and on the development and use of individual-based modelling tools for HIV. 

A recurring theme of my work is connecting rich empirical data to transmission dynamics: identifying the network structures and “hard-to-reach” sub-populations that disproportionately contribute to incidence, and quantifying how targeted strategies compare to broader approaches. Methodologically, my work spans statistical modelling, scalable scientific software (C/R/Python), and integrating phylogenetic information with epidemic models to improve reconstruction of transmission patterns.