Dr. Luc Coffeng is an Assistant Professor in Infectious Disease Control at the Department of Public Health of Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He has a mixed background as an MD, infectious disease epidemiologist, and mathematical modeller of transmission and control of infectious diseases. Dr. Coffeng works on the epidemiology and control of various neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) such as soil-transmitted helminths, filariases, visceral leishmaniasis, and is a principal investigator within the NTD Modelling Consortium. His work is primarily focused on informing public health policy and study design. He has held international Fellowship positions across the world, including at the University of Washington (Seattle, United States) to work on the NTD portfolio within the Global Burden of Disease Study, Australian National University (Canberra, Australia), The Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia), the Institute for Advanced Study (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), as well as a Distinguished Lorentz Fellowship at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. He further acts regularly as a consultant on applied statistics, modelling, and study design for several research groups around the world and has been an invited expert to several formal and informal WHO consultations on NTD control.
Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam
Department of Public Health
P.O. Box 2040
3000 CA Rotterdam
My research and expertise can be broadly organised into three areas of activities:
- Individual-based modelling of infectious diseases for public health policy and decision making in resource-constrained settings
- Mathematical modelling of parasite kinetics in infected hosts
- Applied Bayesian statistics
Most of my work is funded via NWO (Dutch Research Council, personal Veni grant), USAID, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (NTD Modelling Consortium), NIHR, and the WHO. In addition, some of my work has been supported through Fellowships at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (Seattle, USA), the Australian National University (Canberra, Australia), and the Institute for Advanced Study (Amsterdam, Netherlands).
Publications list
Most relevant publications
A general framework to support cost-efficient fecal egg count methods and study design choices for large-scale STH deworming programs-monitoring of therapeutic drug efficacy as a case study.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis
Reducing societal impacts of SARS-CoV-2 interventions through subnational implementation
eLife
Comparing antigenaemia- and microfilaraemia as criteria for stopping decisions in lymphatic filariasis elimination programmes in Africa
PLoS Negl Trop Dis
Predicting epidemics and the impact of interventions in heterogeneous settings: standard SEIR models are too pessimistic
J R Stat Soc Ser A Stat Soc 2022
Assessment of the required performance and the development of corresponding program decision rules for neglected tropical diseases diagnostic tests: Monitoring and evaluation of soil-transmitted helminthiasis control programs as a case study
PLoS Negl Trop Dis
The burden of skin disease and eye disease due to onchocerciasis in countries formerly under the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control mandate for 1990, 2020, and 2030
PLoS Negl Trop Dis
Antibody and antigen prevalence as indicators of ongoing transmission or elimination of visceral leishmaniasis: a modelling study
Clin Infect Dis
Survey design to monitor drug efficacy for the control of soil-transmitted helminthiasis and schistosomiasis
Clin Infect Dis
- Online visualisation tool for Covid-19 exit strategies (accompanying blog here)
- Infectious Disease Control research group Gitlab repository
- Personal Gitlab repository
- R package for stochastic individual-based modelling of a viral epidemic using a SEIR compartmental model of a clustered population with inter-individual heterogeneity in exposure and contribution to transmission, intervention uptake, and potential assortative mixing
- R package for simulation of the evolution of polygenic and monogenic drug resistance in soil-transmitted helminth infections under selective pressure from preventive chemotherapy targeting the host population
- Software tools for designing of anthelmintic drug efficacy surveys
News articles (selection)
Onderzoek: corona-aanpak had regionaler gekund. NRC, 7 March 2023. https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2023/03/06/aanpak-corona-had-regionaler-gekund-a4158779
Erasmus MC: ‘Scholensluiting tijdens coronacrisis in 2020 was achteraf gezien onnodig’. Regionale Publieke Omroep Rijnmond. 7 March 2023. https://www.rijnmond.nl/nieuws/1624804/erasmus-mc-scholensluiting-tijdens-coronacrisis-in-2020-was-achteraf-gezien-onnodig
Steeds meer maatregelen in de prullenbak: hoelang is corona nog een pandemie? www.nu.nl, 16 March 2022. https://www.nu.nl/coronavirus/6189258/steeds-meer-maatregelen-in-de-prullenbak-hoelang-is-corona-nog-een-pandemie.html
Een eind aan de maatregelen? Deze onderzoekers zien het niet snel gebeuren. NRC, 30 October 2020. https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2020/10/29/het-ziet-ernaar-uit-dat-we-moeten-blijven-doormodderen-a4017937
Doormodderen naar de volgende golf. NRC, 17 October 2020. https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2020/10/16/doormodderen-naar-de-volgende-golf-a4016385
Is het virus eigenlijk al weg en andere dwarse ideeën over corona langs de wetenschappelijke meetlat. Volkskrant, 22 July 2020. https://www.volkskrant.nl/a-bd36c5b0
Het Duitse Jena stelde mondkapjes verplicht en zag de besmettingen flink dalen. Kwam dat door de kapjes? Volkskrant, 15 June 2020. https://www.volkskrant.nl/cs-b93a2fd7
Welk land heeft de beste coronastrategie? Vijf lessen over de eerste coronagolf. Volkskrant, 22 May 2020. https://www.volkskrant.nl/cs-b436115d
Kabinet moet oppassen voor nieuwe golf op de IC’s, waarschuwen wetenschappers. Trouw 18 May 2020. https://www.trouw.nl/cs-bb5cd522
Welke maatregelen tegen corona kunnen worden versoepeld? (Handen wassen niet, zoveel lijkt zeker). Volkskrant, 21 April 2020. https://www.volkskrant.nl/wetenschap/welke-maatregelen-tegen-corona-kunnen-worden-versoepeld-handen-wassen-niet-zoveel-lijkt-zeker~b6ec4223/
Gebruik ons om de crisis te bezweren. NRC, 10 April 2020. https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2020/04/09/gebruik-ons-om-de-crisis-te-bezweren-a3996432
Oproep wetenschappers: creëer national platform voor coronaonderzoek. NRC, 10 April 2020. https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2020/04/09/oproep-wetenschappers-creeer-nationaal-platform-coronaonderzoek-a3996445
Ik zag de eerste resultaten, en ik dacht: holy fuck, die tijdlijn. NRC, 6 April 2020. https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2020/04/05/ik-zag-de-eerste-resultaten-en-ik-dacht-holy-fuck-die-tijdlijn-a3995973
Op1 (5 May 2020)
Late night talk show on Dutch national television: interview about what we can expect about the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic.
EenVandaag (14 June 2020)
Daily news and backgrounds program on Dutch National Television: interview about what we can expect about the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Moeten jongeren zich ook laten vaccineren? (January 2021)
In deze vierdelige videoserie laat NU.nl wetenschappers reageren op argumenten van mensen die twijfels hebben over het coronavaccin.