Overview

Facts at a Glance

The MIDAS Vision

MIDAS is a collaborative network of research scientists who use computational, statistical and mathematical models to understand infectious disease dynamics and thereby assist the nation to prepare for, detect and respond to infectious disease threats.

MIDAS Has a Three-Fold Mission:

Research

MIDAS mobilizes its intellectual capital to undertake a variety of projects, many beyond the scope of any individual group, and conducts research on:

• Dynamics of emergence and spread of pathogens;
• Identification and surveillance of infectious diseases;
• Effectiveness and consequences of intervention strategies;
• Host/pathogen interactions;
• Ecological, climatic, economic and evolutionary dimensions of infectious diseases;
• The roles of behavior and behavioral adaptation in the spread and control of infectious diseases;
• Novel modeling approaches;
• Production and dissemination of modeling and analysis tools for the scientific research community; and
• Approaches to analyzing and comparing model structure and output. 

Education, Training and Outreach

MIDAS builds capacity and infrastructure for infectious disease modeling through programs to:

• Engage public health and medical professionals, policy makers and the scientific community to understand the roles and utility of modeling;
• Provide educational, training, mentoring and career development opportunities in modeling infectious diseases;
• Deepen modelers’ understanding of public health, medical and policy interests;
• Facilitate exchange of personnel between public health, medicine, policy and academia; and
• Foster  international cooperation and collaboration on prevention and control of global infectious disease threats.

Policy and Decision Support

MIDAS supports planning, preparedness and response activities through:

• Collaboration with stakeholders to provide policy and decision support;
• Generation of analytical and decision support tools for use by the public health community;
• Sharing results and resources with the MIDAS network, policymakers, public health, medical and scientific communities; and
• Critical analyses and scenarios to inform policy decisions and guidance.