Darlene Bhavnani, Ph.D., MPH

Darlene Bhavnani, Ph.D., MPH, is an assistant professor and faculty associate in the Department of Population Health and an infectious disease epidemiologist in the Biomedical Data Science Hub at Dell Medical School. She also serves as the chief epidemiologist for COVID-19 Contact Tracing at the University of Texas at Austin.

Bhavnani earned her doctorate in epidemiology and Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan. She has over 10 years of experience in global health. Bhavnani has worked in academic, public and nonprofit settings in Asia and Latin America collaborating on projects with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Pan American Health Organization. Bhavnani joins Dell Medical School after spending five years working as a technical adviser for the Clinton Health Access Initiative in Central America.

Bhavnani’s interests include conducting research on infectious disease transmission, strengthening health and surveillance systems and the design and evaluation of public health interventions.