Renowned epidemiologist and Johns Hopkins alum Derek Cummings, Engr ’01 (MS), ’04 (PhD), BSPH ’04 (MHS), has joined the university as the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Infectious Disease Dynamics. Driven by a fascination with how diseases spread and evolve, Cummings is at the forefront of research that informs how public health can respond to global threats, investigating the spatial and temporal dynamics of the spread of infectious diseases in order to develop interventions.
Cummings studies the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases through a combination of theoretical modeling, field studies, clinical trials, and laboratory investigations. His research is primarily concentrated on respiratory and vector-borne infections, including dengue, influenza, measles, chikungunya, and SARS-CoV-2. He seeks solutions that are grounded in science and responsive to the complexities of transmission dynamics of pathogens in many settings.
“I’m interested in the process of contagion,” Cummings explains. “How do pathogens jump from one person to another? A lot of the interventions that I’m interested in are focused on breaking those transmission chains and preventing the infection from getting from one person to another. I want to follow whatever path is needed to deliver, evaluate, and implement strategies to reduce infections and the burden they place on communities.”
About the BDP
- Name: Derek Cummings
- Title: Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Infectious Disease Dynamics
- Appointments: Department of Epidemiology, Bloomberg School of Public Health; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering
- BDP Cluster: Preparing and Responding to Emerging Pandemics
- Previous role: Department of Epidemiology and Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida
- Education: ScB in Chemistry, Brown University; MS in Geography and Environmental Engineering, Johns Hopkins University; MHS in International Health, Johns Hopkins University; PhD in Geography and Environmental Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
Cummings investigates how pathogens spread within populations, emphasizing the role of immunity in shaping these patterns. His research in immuno-epidemiology explores how the immune response can be leveraged to detect infections and inform how public health strategies can best take advantage of our immune system’s incredible adaptability. This approach is particularly relevant for pathogens exhibiting genetic variability, such as influenza, where the virus evolves to evade immune detection, requiring regular updates to vaccines.
“Many of our most effective interventions, most notably vaccines, rely on inducing an immune response that targets one specific part of the pathogen’s life cycle,” Cummings says. “Pathogens that are genetically variable have many different strategies to change over time. This becomes an evolutionary arms race between our immune response and the pathogen trying to evade it. By understanding these dynamics better, we can greatly reduce the burden of pathogens and how much illness is associated with them.”
Cummings played a key role in the response to COVID-19, evaluating factors associated with severe COVID-19 illness, immune responses, and the role of genetic factors in coronavirus susceptibility. Cummings hopes that lessons learned from the response to the COVID-19 pandemic will inform more effective strategies in the future.
“This is a pivotal moment for the field of epidemiology,” says Cummings. “We’re being challenged to adapt and realign in response to what we’ve learned not only from recent crises, but from rapid advances in science and technology. It’s incredible how much humanity has done to reduce the burden of infectious disease and I’m so inspired by all the progress that has been made. It’s easy to forget how much infectious disease burden has shaped humanity. The pace of scientific discovery today will allow us to understand more about pathogens and their interactions with humanity to find new ways to address their current and potential future burden to continue to improve human health.”
“This is a pivotal moment for the field of epidemiology. We’re being challenged to adapt and realign in response to what we’ve learned not only from recent crises, but from rapid advances in science and technology.”
Derek Cummings
Bloomberg Distinguished Professor
Beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, Cummings has long been engaged in efforts to detect and respond to outbreaks, including characterizing patterns of spread early in emergence, and developing surveillance tools to detect infectious diseases before they proliferate and become serious threats to public health. Cummings, who returns to Johns Hopkins from the University of Florida, brings this experience to Johns Hopkins as part of the Preparing and Responding to Emerging Pandemics BDP cluster.
“This is a fantastic opportunity to leverage talent and resources across the university to convene people working at multiple scales, from the molecular up to population levels,” Cummings says. “Bringing together folks working at the bench, theoreticians and mathematicians, analysts working on models, and people working on the delivery of public health to understand these multifaceted phenomena of disease transmission that traverse traditional scientific boundaries will help us come up with more innovative ways to respond to pandemic risks.”
Cummings currently leads an innovative intervention trial assessing the use of Wolbachia-infected mosquitos to combat dengue in Brazil. Wolbachia is a naturally occurring bacterium that, when it infects mosquitos, reduces their ability to transmit dengue and other viruses. The bacterium is also passed on to mosquito offspring, increasing its prevalence over time. This method has shown promise in reducing dengue incidence in previous studies. Cummings’ ongoing trial aims to refine the approach of how to best introduce this intervention and assess its effectiveness against different arboviruses, viruses transmitted to humans by arthropods such as mosquitos and ticks.
“This project reflects the kind of science that I strive to do,” says Cummings. “Evaluating and optimizing this intervention requires understanding a network of interactions between mosquitoes, the Wolbachia bacteria, viruses, and humans. Understanding and measuring these ecological and evolutionary interactions requires analytical tools and trial designs capable of capturing systems-level complexity.”
According to Ellen J. MacKenzie, dean of the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Cummings was a prime candidate for a Bloomberg Distinguished Professorship.
“Dr. Cummings is a pioneering epidemiologist whose work not only reshapes how we forecast outbreaks but also how we prepare for them,” she says. “His deeply interdisciplinary approach to collaborative, globally engaged research and dedication to mentoring the next generation of scientists make him an invaluable presence at Johns Hopkins.”
Adds Ed Schlesinger, dean of the Whiting School of Engineering: “Dr. Cummings brings visionary leadership to the field of immuno-epidemiology, combining deep scientific insight with a commitment to translating biomedical research into real-world strategies that reduce the burden of infectious disease in communities worldwide.”
As a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, Cummings joins an interdisciplinary cohort of scholars working to address major world problems and teach the next generation. The program is backed by support from Bloomberg Philanthropies.