Who We Are

Jess Edwards is an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is an infectious disease epidemiologist who focuses on developing and refining quantitative methods to inform public health decisions using imperfect data sources, particularly those prone to missing information and measurement error. Her work focuses on improving the response to HIV and other infectious disease outbreaks in the US, Dominican Republic, and East Africa.

Have worn many hats in my life. Most recently obtained MD with training in general surgery. Left medicine to follow my passion researching Epidemiologic methods and causal inference. No regrets.

My research is focused on using techniques from observational studies to obtain better information from randomized trials. In particular in trials evaluating HIV treatments.

I also have a wife and two kids I absolutely adore. In my free time I enjoy spending time with family, reading, book hunting, spending time outdoors and SCUBA diving on wrecks and in caves.

My research interests include different types of stigma (HIV, mental health, and sexual identity) and how the internalization of these feelings impacts mental health and overall well-being, particularly among people with HIV as well as the kink community.

Michael Hudgens is a professor and chair of the Department of Biostatistics at UNC-Chapel Hill and is director of the Biostatistics Core of the UNC Center for AIDS Research (CFAR). He has interest in the development and application of causal inference methods for studies of infectious diseases.

Mark is an Epidemiology PhD Student working with Steve Cole on optimal treatment timing for pregnancy and labor-related conditions, reframing statistical measures with a causal lens, and computationally assessing the causal identification conditions. Mark was an instructor for EPID700: SAS and Data Management in Fall 2023. Prior to UNC, Mark graduated from NC State with two degrees in Computer Science and Science, Technology, and Society.