Maia Tarnas, a PhD candidate in Public Health, has been awarded a prestigious F31 fellowship from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Tarnas received two years of funding through the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Predoctoral Fellowship, which will be used to support her research on the relationship between protracted armed conflict and cholera outbreaks in Yemen—a nation torn by over a decade of war.
Since 2014, Yemen has faced a devastating conflict, leaving over 80% of its population dependent on humanitarian aid. The country’s fragile healthcare system has struggled to respond to escalating public health crises exacerbated by poor infrastructure, food insecurity, and displacement of over four million individuals. Among these public health crises is a cholera outbreak that began in 2016 and is now recognized as the largest in modern history with more than 2.5 million reported cases and 4,000 deaths.
I hope my work through this fellowship will help disentangle these mechanisms to aid preparedness efforts, support advocacy and accountability, and ultimately reduce morbidity and mortality.”
– Maia Tarnas, PhD candidate
Tarnas hopes to uncover the deeper mechanisms driving the epidemic, focusing on the connection between conflict, infrastructure, and disease dynamics. Her project, titled “Quantifying Conflict and its Association with Cholera in Yemen,” will address critical gaps in how conflict contributes to disease outbreaks, with a focus on conflict-related damage to infrastructure—such as healthcare facilities targeted in air raids. The study will also combine advanced statistical methods, disease ecology, and innovative tools like Earth observation data to measure conflict and its effects on public health.
“Conflict creates, often intentionally, environments that are primed for infectious disease spread. I hope my work through this fellowship will help disentangle these mechanisms to aid preparedness efforts, support advocacy and accountability, and ultimately reduce morbidity and mortality,” shared Tarnas who is concentrating her degree on global health.
Tarnas is advised by Dr. Daniel Parker, associate professor of population health and disease prevention, and committee members Dr. Volodymyr Minin and Dr. Tetyana Vasylyeva.
