Pandemic Center

Bilinski’s research focuses on developing models to improve public health decision-making. Her work strives to understand what data is available to policy makers, what outcomes they seek, and how to optimize modeling with both in mind to effectively inform the design of policies that will improve population health and well-being. During the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing mpox outbreak, Dr. Bilinski worked with policymakers and researchers, both locally and nationally, on projects including short-term hospital forecasts during the spring of 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic; modeling to inform population contact tracing and mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in K-12 schools; and quantification and attribution of excess mortality, the measure of deaths above and beyond what is typically expected in any given time.