Anne W. Rimoin, Ph.D. is an infectious disease epidemiologist whose research focuses on emerging infectious diseases (EIDs), especially those of animal origin. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at UCLA School of Public Health and trained at Middlebury College (B.A. African History,1992), UCLA School of Public Health (M.P.H, International Health and Nutrition, 1996), and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Ph.D.International Health, Division of Disease Prevention and Control, 2003). Dr. Rimoin's methodological expertise is in the design and implementation of disease surveillance programs, epidemiologic studies, and field trials in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr. Rimoin has extensive experience in disease surveillance and field epidemiology in international settings. Upon graduating from Middlebury College in 1992, Dr. Rimoin spent two years in the Peace Corps as a coordinator for the guinea worm eradication program in Benin, West Africa. After completing her MPH at UCLA, Dr. Rimoin worked for the World Health Organization in India and Nepal, the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), Ethiopia and Eritrea implementing disease surveillance and supervising cold chain for the Expanded Program for Immunization (EPI) and the Polio Eradication Program. She initiated a collaborative relationship between the US Peace Corps and the World Health Organization where Peace Corps Volunteers supported the National Immunization Days for polio and assist in disease surveillance for EPI and the National Polio Eradication Program. Dr. Rimoin was subsequently hired as a consultant by WHO and the Peace Corps to design a program and training materials for health-oriented Peace Corps volunteers in Africa and Nepal to carry out disease surveillance activities including disease reporting, case investigation, and case verification. Dr. Rimoin has since consulted for various NGOs to design a similar program and training materials for peace corps volunteers and non-governmental organizations to use in rural and urban settings in sub-Saharan Africa.
After completing her Ph.D. at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Division of Disease Prevention and Control, Department of International Health, Dr. Rimoin worked as a program scientist for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in the Global Network for Women’s and Children’s Health Research on studies related to maternal and child health in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Currently, Dr. Rimoin directs an epidemiologic study of human monkeypox in the DRC. She has extablished a research site in central DRC which now serves as the headquarters for a variety of studies of cross species transmission of disease. Dr. Rimoin collaborates closely with the DRC Ministry of Health and has offices in Kinshasa at the National Laboratory and in central Congo in Lodja, the administrative capital of the Sankuru District in the Kasai Oriental. She is fluent in French and conversant in Lingala, the lingua franca of the DRC.
Dr. Rimoin's major research interest is in the epidemiology of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs), especially those of animal origin. The majority of EIDs have animal origins, including: HIV-1, SARS, Ebola, West Nile, and Marburg. The entry of novel animal diseases into human populations can have a devastating impact on global health, economy, and security, as demonstrated by the HIV pandemic.
Dr. Rimoin's research is focused on establishing sentinel disease surveillance systems in remote rural areas to detect novel viruses of animal origin that are crossing species into human populations in central Africa and to understand the epidemiology and ecological factors that influence transmission and spread of these diseases.
Dr. Rimoin's ongoing work aims to elucidate the epidemiology of monkeypox and viral hemorrhagic fevers through active disease surveillance in remote regions of central Africa with subsistence hunters and other individuals at who live and work at the human-animal interface and are at high risk for cross species disease transmission. These individuals represent an important sentinel population for monitoring viral disease emergence in a region from which numerous EIDs, including ebola, monkeypox, and marburg have been know to recur.
Congo BioMed is a non-profit, non-governmental international organization committed to promoting biomedical research, training and sustainable development in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Congo BioMed's mission is to strengthen biomedical research capacity and infrastructure and enable Congolese researcher to participate fully in defining and implementing health research priorities in their own country.