Paul Wesson, PhD

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Paul Wesson, PhD

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Assistant Professor, Epidemiology & Biostatistics
Assistant Professor, School of Medicine
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Biography

I am an epidemiologist focused on quantifying the health burdens of (and disparities related to) hard-to-reach and socially marginalized populations, particularly as they relate to infectious diseases. My research expertise includes developing and using data driven methods for sampling hard-to-reach and “hidden” populations, population size estimation methods, and using advanced epidemiologic and statistical techniques to study the social determinants of health. I am particularly interested in the social determinants of infectious disease risk. I see my research as existing at the nexus of infectious disease, data science, and social epidemiology; as such, I incorporate theories and principles from social epidemiology to inform and guide my study designs and analyses (e.g. intersectionality, minority stress theory).

Specifically, as an HIV researcher, my research agenda relates to the unique challenges of sampling hard-to-reach populations for HIV surveillance, and leverages information from the sampling process (and survey data) to generate estimates of the population size. Valid estimates of the population size are a key component of biomedical informatics and epidemiological analyses (providing a denominator for the population at risk) and inform how and where limited public health resources should be targeted. In my research, I have both applied numerous population size estimation methods to data sets derived from bio-behavioral surveillance surveys, public health surveillance, and electronic medical records. As part of my research on population size estimation, I have also developed novel population size estimation methods to correct for known biases.

Additionally, I am interested in extending my research to include Geo-spatial analysis and clinical data to further examine contextual and structural determinants of disparities in health outcomes.

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  1. Rerolle F, Jacobson JO, Wesson P, Dantzer E, Lover AA, Hongvanthong B, Smith J, Marshall JM, Sturrock HJW, Bennett A. Publisher Correction: Population size estimation of seasonal forest-going populations in southern Lao PDR. Sci Rep. 2023 Feb 27; 13(1):3357.
  2. Shelhamer M, Baxi S, Wesson P, Kelly D. Response to Prone vs. Supine Ventilation and Mortality Outcome in Intubated COVID-19 Patients. J Intensive Care Med. 2023 03; 38(3):322.
  3. Gerdts C, Jayaweera RT, Motana R, Bessenaar T, Wesson P. Incidence of and Experiences with Abortion Attempts in Soweto, South Africa: Respondent-Driven Sampling Study. JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2022 12 08; 8(12):e38045.
  4. Wesson P, Jewell NP, McFarland W, Glymour MM. Evaluating tools for capture-recapture model selection to estimate the size of hidden populations: it works in practice, but does it work in theory? Ann Epidemiol. 2023 Jan; 77:24-30.
  5. Baguso GN, Santiago-Rodriguez E, Gyamerah AO, Wilson EC, Chung C, McFarland W, Wesson P. Mental Distress and Use of Stimulants: Analysis of a Longitudinal Cohort of Transgender Women. LGBT Health. 2022 Oct 26.
  6. Olshen AB, Garcia A, Kapphahn KI, Weng Y, Vargo J, Pugliese JA, Crow D, Wesson PD, Rutherford GW, Gonen M, Desai M. COVIDNearTerm: A simple method to forecast COVID-19 hospitalizations. J Clin Transl Sci. 2022; 6(1):e59.
  7. Rasheed A, Sharifi H, Wesson P, Pashtoon SJ, Tavakoli F, Ghalekhani N, Haghdoost AA, Atarud A, Banehsi MR, Hamdard N, Sadaat SI, McFarland W, Mirzazadeh A. Mapping and population size estimates of people who inject drugs in Afghanistan in 2019: Synthesis of multiple methods. PLoS One. 2022; 17(1):e0262405.
  8. Wesson P, Hswen Y, Valdes G, Stojanovski K, Handley MA. Risks and Opportunities to Ensure Equity in the Application of Big Data Research in Public Health. Annu Rev Public Health. 2022 04 05; 43:59-78.
  9. Guan A, Thomas M, Vittinghoff E, Bowleg L, Mangurian C, Wesson P. An investigation of quantitative methods for assessing intersectionality in health research: A systematic review. SSM Popul Health. 2021 Dec; 16:100977.
  10. Wesson PD, Lippman SA, Neilands TB, Ahern J, Kahn K, Pettifor A. Evaluating the Validity and Reliability of the Gender Equitable Men's Scale Using a Longitudinal Cohort of Adolescent Girls and Young Women in South Africa. AIDS Behav. 2021 Aug 24.
  11. Rerolle F, Jacobson JO, Wesson P, Dantzer E, Lover AA, Hongvanthong B, Smith J, Marshall JM, Sturrock HJW, Bennett A. Population size estimation of seasonal forest-going populations in southern Lao PDR. Sci Rep. 2021 07 20; 11(1):14816.
  12. Gyamerah AO, Baguso G, Santiago-Rodriguez E, Sa'id A, Arayasirikul S, Lin J, Turner CM, Taylor KD, McFarland W, Wilson EC, Wesson P. Experiences and factors associated with transphobic hate crimes among transgender women in the San Francisco Bay Area: comparisons across race. BMC Public Health. 2021 06 02; 21(1):1053.
  13. Esaryk EE, Wesson P, Fields J, Rios-Fetchko F, Lindan C, Bern C, Fern?ndez A. Variation in SARS-CoV-2 Infection Risk and Socioeconomic Disadvantage Among a Mayan-Latinx Population in Oakland, California. JAMA Netw Open. 2021 05 03; 4(5):e2110789.
  14. Shelhamer MC, Wesson PD, Solari IL, Jensen DL, Steele WA, Dimitrov VG, Kelly JD, Aziz S, Gutierrez VP, Vittinghoff E, Chung KK, Menon VP, Ambris HA, Baxi SM. Prone Positioning in Moderate to Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Due to COVID-19: A Cohort Study and Analysis of Physiology. J Intensive Care Med. 2021 Feb; 36(2):241-252.
  15. Wesson P, Vittinghoff E, Turner C, Arayasirikul S, McFarland W, Wilson E. Intercategorical and Intracategorical Experiences of Discrimination and HIV Prevalence Among Transgender Women in San Francisco, CA: A Quantitative Intersectionality Analysis. Am J Public Health. 2021 03; 111(3):446-456.
  16. Shelhamer M, Wesson PD, Solari IL, Jensen DL, Steele WA, Dimitrov VG, Kelly JD, Aziz S, Gutierrez VP, Vittinghoff E, Chung KK, Menon VP, Ambris HA, Baxi SM. Prone Positioning in Moderate to Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome due to COVID-19: A Cohort Study and Analysis of Physiology. Res Sq. 2020 Aug 17.
  17. McFarland W, Wesson P, Turner C, Lin J, Veras MASM, Yan H, Raymond HF, Wilson EC. High HIV Incidence Among Young and Racial/Ethnic Minority Transgender Women in San Francisco: Results of a Longitudinal Cohort Study. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2020 05 01; 84(1):e7-e10.
  18. Reid M, Gupta R, Roberts G, Goosby E, Wesson P. Achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC): Dominance analysis across 183 countries highlights importance of strengthening health workforce. PLoS One. 2020; 15(3):e0229666.
  19. Wesson PD, McFarland W, Qin CC, Mirzazadeh A. Software Application Profile: The Anchored Multiplier calculator-a Bayesian tool to synthesize population size estimates. Int J Epidemiol. 2019 12 01; 48(6):1744-1749.
  20. Reid M, Roberts G, Goosby E, Wesson P. Monitoring Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in high Tuberculosis burden countries: Tuberculosis mortality an important tracer of UHC service coverage. PLoS One. 2019; 14(10):e0223559.
  21. Wesson P, Lippman SA, Neilands TB, Twine R, Ahern J, Gómez-Olivé FX, Peacock D, MacPhail C, Kahn K, Pettifor A. Multilevel Gender-Equitable Norms and Risk of HIV and Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 Acquisition Among Young South African Women: A Longitudinal Analysis of the HIV Prevention Trials Network 068 Cohort. J Adolesc Health. 2019 12; 65(6):730-737.
  22. Raymond HF, McFarland W, Wesson P. Estimated Population Size of Men Who Have Sex with Men, San Francisco, 2017. AIDS Behav. 2019 Jun; 23(6):1576-1579.
  23. Wesson PD, Adhikary R, Jonas A, Gerndt K, Mirzazadeh A, Katuta F, Maher A, Banda K, Mutenda N, McFarland W, Lowrance D, Prybylski D, Patel S. Estimating the Population Size of Female Sex Workers in Namibia Using a Respondent-Driven Sampling Adjustment to the Reverse Tracking Method: A Novel Approach. JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2019 Mar 14; 5(1):e11737.
  24. Ghayomzadeh M, Earnest CP, SeyedAlinaghi S, Wesson P, Taj L, Rezaei S, Navalta JW, Mohraz M, Gharakhanlou R, Voltarelli FA. Effects of Aerobic Dance Training on Psychological Well-Being and Immune Function of Women Living With HIV. J Assoc Nurses AIDS Care. 2019 Mar-Apr; 30(2):238-244.
  25. Wesson PD, Mirzazadeh A, McFarland W. A Bayesian approach to synthesize estimates of the size of hidden populations: the Anchored Multiplier. Int J Epidemiol. 2018 10 01; 47(5):1636-1644.