Public Health alumna Mya Brady published a study examining visualizations of infection clusters

Mya Brady (SPH ’21G) is marking her first publication as first author (and second to date) with a study in Antimicrobial Stewardship & Healthcare Epidemiology, an online open-access journal of the Cambridge University Press.

For the study, “Transmission Visualization of Healthcare Infection Clusters: A Scoping Review,” Brady and colleagues analyzed 30 publications to ascertain the most common elements used to map infectious disease outbreaks and spread in institutional settings. Of the more than three dozen data visualizations studied, the team found none they felt included all the factors most useful to determine likely transmission pathways. The group is currently at work on a more comprehensive model based on COVID-19 data.

“This work combines aspects of infectious diseases knowledge and helping people, which is what public health is all about,” said Brady, an infectious diseases preventionist at UPMC Presbyterian and Shadyside hospitals. The paper’s senior author is Graham Snyder, associate professor of medicine and UPMC’s medical director of infection prevention and hospital epidemiology.

— Michele Baum, photo of Brady and Snyder