Helen Jenkins
Profiles

Helen E Jenkins, PhD

Associate Professor, Biostatistics - Boston University School of Public Health

617-358-2640
helenje@bu.edu
Crosstown Center
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Biography

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Biostatistics. I have a MSc in Biostatistics from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a PhD in Infectious Disease Epidemiology from Imperial College, London. My career thus far has been characterized by quantitative analysis of infectious disease data with a goal of producing results that can influence policy and decision-making to ultimately reduce morbidity and mortality due to infectious diseases.
I have extensive experience with modeling of tuberculosis in a range of settings to answer questions of public health importance. I previously had an NIH K01 Award to investigate the spatial heterogeneity of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB). I have analyzed surveillance data from Moldova, Georgia, Ukraine, and lab data from South Africa, and used spatial statistics to estimate local levels of DR-TB and demonstrate the heterogeneity of the disease burden across individual countries. This type of work can allow policy makers to focus resources where they are most needed and design further studies to understand drivers of these “hot-spots” of disease. I currently have an R01 using South African laboratory data to understand the epidemiology of TB nationally and also an R01 based in Lima, Peru, to understand the impact of geographic access access to TB care on treatment completion and diagnostic delay.

Another one of my primary research areas is pediatric TB. In 2014, I published new estimates of the global pediatric TB incidence using a novel statistical method in The Lancet. Since then the WHO have incorporated my work into their official estimates. This work was significant because it demonstrated the gulf between diagnosed and actual pediatric TB. In 2016, I published estimates of case fatality ratios in children with TB, with and without TB treatment, following a literature review. In 2017, I published the first estimate of the number of children under five years old that die with TB and showed the importance of TB to the global burden of under-5 mortality. This body of work demonstrates the importance of robust TB burden estimates.

I have also worked on a large-scale field trial in the UK estimating the effect of badger culling on bovine TB in cattle. This involved large database analysis, several statistical methods, and resulted in papers in journals such as Nature and PNAS. Our results directly informed UK policy and were scrutinized by governmental committees and other scientists. In my PhD, I analyzed poliomyelitis surveillance data from the WHO. I estimated polio vaccine efficacies in Nigeria and the impact of interventions on poliovirus population immunity, resulting in two lead author publications in the New England Journal of Medicine.

I am also the Co-Director of the Summer Institute of Biostatistics and Data Science, a highly-successful program to introduce undergraduate students to Biostatstics, which has been running for over 20 years.

Education

  • Imperial College London, PhD Field of Study: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
  • London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, MSc Field of Study: Medical Statistics
  • University of Birmingham, BSc Field of Study: Mathematics

Websites

Classes Taught

  • SPHBS401
  • SPHBS825

Publications

  • Published on 1/1/2025

    du Preez K, Jenkins HE, Martinez L, Chiang SS, Dlamini SS, Dolynska M, Aleksandrin A, Kobe J, Graham SM, Hesseling AC, Starke JR, Seddon JA, Dodd PJ. Global burden of tuberculous meningitis in children aged 0-14 years in 2019: a mathematical modelling study. Lancet Glob Health. 2025 Jan; 13(1):e59-e68. PMID: 39706662.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 11/1/2024

    Shapiro AN, Scott L, Moultrie H, Jacobson KR, Bor J, Conradie F, da Silva P, Mlisana K, Jenkins HE, Stevens WS. Risk factors for and timing of presumptive recurrent TB. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2024 Nov 01; 28(11):527-533. PMID: 39468024.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 10/4/2024

    Hansen MA, Han AX, Chevalier JM, Klock E, Pandithakoralage H, Nooy A, Ockhuisen T, Girdwood SJ, Lekodeba NA, Khan S, Jenkins HE, Johnson CC, Sacks JA, Russell CA, Nichols BE. Cost-effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 self-testing at routine gatherings to minimize community-level infections in lower-middle income countries: A mathematical modeling study. PLoS One. 2024; 19(10):e0311198. PMID: 39365802.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 8/28/2024

    Campbell JI, Lavache D, Garing A, Sabharwal V, Haberer JE, Dubois M, Jenkins HE, Brooks MB, Joseph NT, Kissler K, Horsburgh CR, Jacobson KR. Evaluation of the Tuberculosis Infection Care Cascade Among Pregnant Individuals in a Low-Tuberculosis-Burden Setting. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2024 Sep; 11(9):ofae494. PMID: 39238842.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 6/1/2024

    Shapiro AN, Dolynska M, Chiang SS, Rybak N, Petrenko V, Horsburgh CR, Kobe J, Terleieva I, Sakalska O, Jenkins HE. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on TB notifications in Ukraine in 2020. IJTLD Open. 2024 Jun; 1(6):258-265. PMID: 39021447.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 6/1/2024

    Chiang SS, Jenkins HE. Pediatric TB treatment outcomes: targets for improvement. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2024 Jun 01; 28(6):263-265. PMID: 38822487.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 4/19/2024

    Ockhuisen T, de Nooy A, Jenkins HE, Han A, Russell CA, Khan S, Girdwood S, Ruhwald M, Kohli M, Nichols BE. Cost-effectiveness of diagnostic tools and strategies for the screening and diagnosis of tuberculosis disease and infection: a scoping review. BMJ Public Health. 2024 Jun; 2(1):e000276. PMID: 40018193.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 3/1/2024

    Xiong Y, Millones AK, Farroñay S, Torres I, Acosta D, Jordan DR, Jimenez J, Wippel C, Jenkins HE, Lecca L, Yuen CM. Impact of the private sector on spatial accessibility to chest radiography services in Lima, Peru. IJTLD Open. 2024 Mar 01; 1(3):144-146. PMID: 38698907.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 3/1/2024

    Yamkovoy K, Self JL, Jenkins HE, Horsburgh CR, White LF. Patterns of TB transmission in the United States, 2011-2017. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2024 Mar 01; 28(3):154-156. PMID: 38454181.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 3/1/2024

    Leavitt SV, Rodriguez CA, Bouton TC, Horsburgh CR, Abel Zur Wiesch P, Nichols BE, White LF, Jenkins HE. Outcomes for people with TB by disease severity at presentation. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2024 Mar 01; 28(3):142-147. PMID: 38454178.

     Read At: PubMed

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