The quick evolvement of an epidemic and even a pandemic emergency put more challenging tasks for modelers to quickly fill the research gap and to develop efficient analytical tools. However, training a modeler to have this capacity needs huge amount of education investments over a long time period and requires constant and strategic management with the support of policymakers of one country or organization before emergency. One lesson for the policymakers and funders is to strategically educate more modelers and further invest in existing modelers who played a very important role in the rapid epidemic response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Authors: Siyu Chen, Fatima Arifi, Ricardo Aguas, Nathaniel Hupert, Jennifer Flegg, Lisa White, Mohammad Nardir Sahak