Health Policy Programs

In this hands-on workshop, learn to use FRED (Framework for Reconstructing Epidemiological Dynamics), a flexible, agent-based modeling platform that can be used to model diverse situations, including infectious diseases, chronic conditions, demographic changes at the population level, and the effects of human behavior. Workshop participants will become familiar with the FRED platform, learn the basics of incorporating and simulating agent behavior in simulation models, and create and run their own behavioral models using FRED Web, an online interface in which FRED models can be designed, run, and analyzed.

FRED can be used to predict outcomes of an epidemic, such as epidemic curves and disease incidence, and is a tool for evaluating interventions, such as school closure, social distancing and changes in vaccination behavior.  Using census-based statistically representative synthetic populations, FRED captures the demographic and geographically heterogeneous characteristics of actual populations, including realistic neighborhood, household, school and workplace social networks.

Presented by Pitt Public Health's Center for Social Dynamics & Community Health and Public Health Dynamics Laboratory, and the Pitt Clinical and Translational Science Institute's Biomedical Modeling Core, this conference will bring together national leaders from across the country to discuss the integration of modeling approaches into the field of behavioral and community health sciences. Through panel discussions and breakout sessions, attendees will learn about existing research, discuss associated challenges and opportunities, and chart a path forward for this emerging field. Registration is required; no cost.