Tobias Koch

Tobias Koch is a PhD student focusing on modeling vector-borne disease evolution and transmission. He first became interested in vector-borne diseases working for the Zoonotic Disease Office for Washington State collecting and testing ticks and mosquitoes for pathogens. He thought it was pretty cool that he could get paid to spend time outdoors and collect bugs. He later became interested in evolution and modeling during his time studying the Epidemiology of Microbial Disease and Yale University. He thought it was pretty cool you could use a pathogens genome and some fancy math to inform our understanding of where a pathogen came from, how it's spreading and where it might be going. When he isn't thinking about infectious diseases, you can find him photographing, climbing and skiing mountains with his wife Smythe.