Vivian is an Epidemiologist at the Washington State Department of Health Office of Communicable Disease Epidemiology working in applied public health. Her work primarily focuses on influenza and Legionnaires’ disease, but she also works in other areas of communicable disease. Vivian is the Influenza Coordinator for the state of Washington, and in that role performs surveillance to understand the epidemiology of seasonal and novel influenza. She also advises local health jurisdictions on influenza case and outbreak management, in addition to participating in various national workgroups on influenza. In addition Vivian is the legionellosis coordinator for the state of Washington, and works to understand the epidemiology of Legionnaires’ disease in Washington, leading a cross-agency team that focuses on primary prevention and outbreak response. Vivian has a background at the lab bench, having completed her PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Washington, focusing on drug resistance in the malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax. Vivian leads the new UW Epidemiology course EPI 506 Surveillance Systems and Decision Making in Public Health and is interested in providing mentorship and internship/job shadow opportunities to students who seek careers in applied public health.
