Café Mathématique:
the Flu, Math, and You
November 21, 2018 • Fields Institute
Organizers: Julien Arino (University of Manitoba), Jacques Belair
(University of Montreal), Jane Heffernan (York University) and
James Watmough (University of New Brunswick)
The first of six Café Mathématiques
was held at the Fields Institute on
November 21, 2018. These general public
events are designed to raise awareness
of the application and relevance of
mathematics in biomedical fields and
to provide insight into topics of popular
interest. The Cafés provide a fantastic
opportunity for the general public to
meet local researchers and discuss some of
the most interesting research underway.
Café Mathématiques typically take
place at cafés, pubs, restaurants,
or in community centres and
are not intended to be lectures
or seminars, but a way of
getting research knowledge
about mathematics issues
of popular interest to
the general public. The
November 21 Café, titled The
Flu, Math, and You, centred
on infectious disease
modelling, specifically, the
mathematical modelling of
influenza. Infectious disease
modelling is a field of applied
mathematics that involves the
development and analysis of
mathematical models, and
dynamical systems, and
computer simulations, so
that characteristics of
infectious diseases
can be discerned.
Given the recent
18
advances in public health contact tracing methods,
laboratory detection, sequencing methods,
computer hardware and the diverse nature of data
sources, mathematical modelling provides the
necessary tools to understand the complexities of
infectious disease over many scales, from within
a person, to a population. It also provides the
means on which predictions and forecasts on the
effectiveness of public health, pharmaceutical,
and medical interventions can be made. The field
is well known in research communities globally,
but disease modeling (and even Mathematical
Biology in general) is not well-known to the public.
Moderator Jane Heffernan (York University)
and Panelists Catherine Beauchemin (Ryerson
University), David Fisman (U of T), Seyed Moghadas
(York University and Pan-InfORM), and Edward
Thommes (Sanofi Pasteur and University of Guelph)
began the evening with short introductions
to their work modelling influenza at the in-
host, community, and population levels.
This was followed by an engaging question period
from the audience and discussions on the utility
of mathematics to questions about public health
and medicine. A lively debate and sharing of
different ideas and anecdotes ensued. Future
Cafés are being planned in Ottawa, Winnipeg,
Montreal, Fredericton, and Vancouver.
From left to right:
panellists Catherine
Beauchemin
(Ryerson University),
Seyed Moghadas
(York University and
Pan-InfORM), David
Fisman (U of T),
Edward Thommes
(Sanofi Pasteur and
Guelph University)
and moderator Jane
Heffernan (York
University).