Jeffrey Shaman

Jeffrey Shaman, PhD, holds appointments as Professor of Climate in the Columbia Climate School and Professor of Environmental Health Sciences in the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. He works in the fields of climate and health, climate dynamics, infectious disease epidemiology, and contagion modeling and forecasting. He uses mathematical and statistical approaches to describe, understand, and forecast the transmission dynamics of disease systems, and to investigate the broader effects of climate and weather on human health. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he led numerous studies of SARS-CoV-2, including estimation of undocumented infections, exploration of the likelihood of reinfection, and quantification of the overall burden of COVID-19. The real-time projections of COVID-19 outcomes developed by his team were used by the White House Task Force, CDC, hospital systems, state and municipal public health agencies, and local governments to support public health decision making and response efforts, as well as by Regeneron to support the Phase 3 clinical trial of their monoclonal antibody therapeutic, and Pfizer to support the Phase 3 clinical trial of their mRNA vaccine.

Dr. Shaman has studied a number of climate phenomena, including Rossby wave dynamics, atmospheric jet waveguides, the coupled South Asian monsoon-ENSO system, extratropical precipitation, and tropical cyclogenesis. More recent research into mental health and addiction has led to exploration and simulation of social contagion processes.

From July 2023 - December 2024 he served as interim dean of the Columbia Climate School. He currently serves as Senior Vice Dean.