CV

I am a doctoral researcher in applied mathematics at SFU. My PhD advisor is Dr. Caroline Colijn.

Education

• 2024-present: PhD in applied mathematics – Simon Fraser University, Canada
• 2021: MSc in statistics – Univeristy of New Brunswick, Canada

Accreditation

• 2021: Associaite Statistician (A.Stat.), Statistical Society of Canada

Publications

• J. McNichol, J. Valizadeh, S. Chaudhury, C. Colijn, Measles in Canada: modelling outbreaks with variable vaccine coverage and interventions. BMC Infectious Diseases 25, 236 (2025).
• M. Chitwood, E. Corbett, V. Ndhlovu, B. Sobkowiak C. Colijn, J. Andrews, R. Burke, P. Cudahy, P. Dodd, J. Imai‑Eaton, D. Engelthaler, M. Folkerts, H. Feasey, Y. Lan, J. Lewis, J. McNichol, N. Menzies, G. Chipungu, M. Nliwasa, D. Weinberger, J. Warren, J. Salomon, P. MacPherson, T. Cohen, Distribution and transmission of M. tuberculosis in a high‑HIV prevalence city in Malawi: a genomic and spatial analysis. PLOS Global Public Health (in press).
• G. Dong, J. McNichol, and L. Cowen, Model selection and model robustness for population size estimation in two-sample capture-recapture studies. American Journal of Epidemiology, 2025.

Other publications

• Rapid risk assessment: measles in Canada – Public Health Implications in 2024, Public Health Agency of Canada [PDF]

Software

• C. Stewart, S. Iverson, C. Field, D. Bowen, W. Blanchard, S. Lang, J. Kamerman, H. Steeves, J. McNichol, and T. Rideout, Qfasa: Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis, 2021, R package version 1.1.2. >89,000 downloads.

Select talks

• Whole-genome sequence data and TB transmission, The Union World Conference on Lung Health, Bali, Indonesia, 2024 [Poster]

• Panel on mentorship for statisticians, Statistical Society of Canada Annual Meeting, Carleton University, Ottawa, 2023 [Liaison article about this session]

• I have given a number of talks about quantitative fatty acid signature analysis, here is the most recent:

  • Fatty acid based dietariy estimation when calibration coefficients are unavailable, The Western North American Region (WNAR) of the International Biometric Society & Institute of Mathematical Statistics Annual Meeting, Anchorage, USA, 2023. [Slides]
  • I gave a general overview of fatty acid methods for SFU’s FAB Lab. [Slides]

Experience

Research

• January 2024 – present: Simon Fraser University

  • PhD thesis: Transmission and selection in micorbial populations, advised by Dr. Caroline Colijn
  • See here for statement about my current reseach

• 2022 – 2023: University of Victoria

  • I was briefly a PhD student in statistics at UVic before leaving to persue reseach in mathematical genomic epidemiology at SFU.
  • I worked in statistical ecology with Dr. Laura Cowen on capture-recapture methodology.

• 2019 – 2021: University of New Brunswick

  • MSc thesis: Simultaneous maximum unified fatty acid signature analysis, advised by Dr. Connie Stewart
  • Statistical estimation of marine mamal diets using fatty acids.
  • R package: QFASA

Other

• 2020 – 2021: Analyst at Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Education Statistics