Rate My Professor Lisa Sattenspiel

Lisa Sattenspiel is Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Missouri-Columbia, specializing in Biological Anthropology. She earned her PhD from the University of New Mexico in 1984 with a dissertation titled 'The Spread of Disease in Subdivided Populations.' Her research centers on the ecology and transmission of infectious diseases and their impacts on human populations, particularly the geographic spread of diseases in historical and modern settings, the influence of human social behaviors on transmission, and demography of living and past populations. Current projects include investigating sociodemographic factors and regional differences in the 1918-20 influenza and 2020-21 COVID-19 pandemics across Missouri counties; comparing the spread of the 1918-19 influenza epidemic and other outbreaks in Labrador and Alaska; and analyzing the dynamics of multiple acute pathogens like influenza and measles alongside chronic tuberculosis and malnutrition in Newfoundland and Labrador during the early 20th century. Sattenspiel specializes in mathematical modeling and agent-based computer simulations to study epidemic processes.

Sattenspiel has made significant contributions through her publications, including the book The Geographic Spread of Infectious Diseases: Models and Applications (Princeton University Press, 2009) and highly cited papers such as 'Modeling and analyzing HIV transmission: the effect of contact patterns' (Mathematical Biosciences, 1988; 577 citations), 'Mathematical models to characterize early epidemic growth: A review' (Physics of Life Reviews, 2016; 539 citations), 'A structured epidemic model incorporating geographic mobility among regions' (Mathematical Biosciences, 1995; 506 citations), 'Thinking clearly about social aspects of infectious disease transmission' (Nature, 2021), and recent works like 'Death on the permafrost: Revisiting the 1918-20 influenza pandemic in Alaska using death certificates' (American Journal of Epidemiology, 2024) and 'The impact of the 1918 influenza pandemic on the demography of Newfoundland and Labrador' (Newfoundland and Labrador Studies, 2024). Her scholarship has influenced epidemic modeling and public health insights from historical data. Awards include the Writing Intensive Teaching Excellence Award (2021), Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2013), Division of Student Affairs Excellence in Education Award (2001), Alumnae Anniversary Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Education of Women at Mizzou (1998), election to Sigma Xi (1989), and Kappa Mu Epsilon (1979). She received an NSF grant for COVID-19 and influenza research.