We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Alison Hill, who joined the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto on July 1, 2025.

Allison was formerly an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University, where she was a core faculty member at their Institute for Computational Medicine and in the Infectious Disease Dynamics Group. Her research program focuses on understanding and predicting the population dynamics of infectious diseases, with the goal of optimizing therapies for patients and control policies for epidemics. She has worked extensively on human viral infections such as HIV/AIDS and SARS-CoV-2, as well as on drug resistance, vaccines, immunotherapy, and more. Her approach bridges ecological, evolutionary, and biomedical perspectives and has informed public health responses worldwide.

Dr. Hill holds a physics undergraduate degree from Queen’s University in Canada and a PhD from Harvard’s Biophysics Program. Following her graduation, she completed postdoctoral work in Harvard’s department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, served as a John Harvard Distinguished Science Fellow and was a recipient of the prestigious NIH Director’s Early Independence Award. She completed both an MPH and the Global Infectious Diseases Program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and  is a past member of the Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity program at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

The Hill lab is currently recruiting trainees at all levels with an interest in infectious disease dynamics and strong mathematical and computational skills.

“We are eager to welcome Dr. Alison Hill as a new EEB faculty. Her work exemplifies the kind of integrative, high-impact research that will enrich our department and offer new opportunities for collaboration across disciplines.” — Professor Joel Levine, EEB Chair

We are also delighted to share that Dr. Hill has co-authored a major new publication in the interdisciplinary Journal of the Royal Society Interface. The article, titled “Vaccine failure mode determines population-level impact of vaccination campaigns during epidemics”, analyses the different ways vaccines can be ‘imperfect’ and what this means for disease control.

Dr. Hill’s recent publication highlights her commitment to impactful, interdisciplinary science that addresses global health challenges through the lens of ecology and evolution. We are excited for the new perspectives and research directions she will bring to EEB.

You can read the full article here:

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsif.2024.0689

Welcome, Dr. Hill!