Olivia Boyd

Olivia is an epidemiologist and infectious disease modeler, with an MSc in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and an MRes in Evolution and Epidemiology from Imperial College London. She is dedicated to advancing open-source access to early outbreak information, with a focus on developing early warning systems that are user-friendly and accessible to all. During the first few years of the pandemic, she developed an early warning system for SARS-CoV-2 variants of interest or concern, utilizing viral phylogenetic information. This methodology is one of the primary methods implemented by UKHSA (formerly Public Health England) today for tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Olivia co-founded epi[x] with Oliver Geffen, an epidemiologist with expertise in healthcare systems and implementation. Together they founded epi[x] after identifying a systemic issue problem at the onset of the pandemic: massive information asymmetry – only a small group of organizations had access to actionable insights for decision-making. epi[x] is on a mission to empower users across the world to make informed decisions in times of uncertainty, which, as our user base grows, will improve the coordination of outbreak response – directly impacting health outcomes and averting economic costs.

Before epi[x], Olivia worked at Imperial College for several years, teaching the Epidemiology MSc and working in adjunct with multiple organizations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Centre of Disease Control (CDC), US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS (PEPFAR), Public Health England (PHE, now UKHSA), and COG-UK (the COVID-19 genetics consortium).