Wall Associate and Prominent Disease Modeller, Dan Coombs Appointed Head of UBC Mathematics

January 21, 2021

UBC mathematical biologist Dr. Dan Coombs, whose research focuses on viral disease dynamics and the dynamics of immune receptors on cell surfaces, has been appointed head of the UBC Department of Mathematics. Over the past year, Dr. Coombs and his team has been supporting the province’s efforts to understand and model the spread of Novel Coronavirus.

In April 2020, he received funding for a COVID-19 Working Group Mathematical Modelling to Understand COVID-19 Epidemic Dynamics in British Columbia, one of four new PWIAS working groups focused on how COVID-19 affects our society in areas such as personal privacy, higher education, epidemiology, and religion. 

His term as head of the UBC Department of Mathematics began January 1, 2021.