# EpiModel 2.0: Integrated Network Models for HIV/STI Prevention Science

> **NIH NIH R01** · EMORY UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $723,223

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
EpiModel 2.0 is an interdisciplinary project to develop the statistical methods and software tools for the
network-based mathematical modeling of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among men who
have sex with men (MSM) and heterosexuals in the United States. As a MIDAS project, our goal is to build and
apply a comprehensive computational epidemiology platform for investigating critical issues in HIV/STI
prevention science now and over the next decade. This work will build on nearly two decades NIH and CDC
funded research that generated modeling tools now being used to support the development of HIV policy by
the CDC and local health departments. The major substantive problem that this project addresses is the
isolated nature of many mathematical models with respect to modeling diseases or populations independently,
limited forms of connection to realistic behavioral or clinical data for parameterization, and with disjointed
connections between the epidemic simulation and economic analyses of interventions. EpiModel 2.0 will
achieve major advances in our robust modeling infrastructure to achieve integration across all these domains
in a comprehensive open-source software platform that may be used by our research group and many others
to address the fast-evolving questions of HIV/STI prevention science. Under the framework of integrated
models for HIV/STI prevention science, our three specific aims are as follows. 1) Integrated Networks: We will
extend EpiModel to accommodate new data forms of bio-behavioral data, including innovative sociometric
network data platforms, to allow for modeling MSM and heterosexual networks with greater detail relevant to
intervention targeting and scale-up; 2) Integrated Epidemiology: We will design new EpiModel modules to
handle the co-circulation of HIV and related bacterial and viral STIs, including gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis,
and herpes simplex virus, including within-host pathogen evolution to address issues of drug resistance; 3)
Integrated Economics: We will develop a new cost-effectiveness analysis software that works seamlessly with
EpiModel, specializing in economic analyses of prevention interventions under conditions of uncertainty in
defining costs, health utilities, and information valuations. Our major infrastructural components include: 1)
comprehensive methods for model calibration and validation using a flexible Bayesian framework; 2) rigorous,
open-source software development, testing, and dissemination; and 3) ongoing software and methods
documentation and in-person training resources for both epidemiological researchers and public health
policymakers. The completion of EpiModel 2.0 will represent the advancement of our robust epidemic modeling
software platform for new user bases to investigate complex modeling questions and to make data-driven
public health HIV/STI prevention policy.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10179311
- **Project number:** 5R01AI138783-04
- **Recipient organization:** EMORY UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Samuel Jenness
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $723,223
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-07-12 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10179311

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10179311, EpiModel 2.0: Integrated Network Models for HIV/STI Prevention Science (5R01AI138783-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10179311. Licensed CC0.

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