Sara Sottile

Research areas & projects

Research

My research combines mathematical modeling, medical statistics and epidemiology to study health-related questions, from theoretical epidemic dynamics to clinical and population data. The projects below highlight selected research themes, collaborations and related scientific outputs.

01 / THEORY

Mathematical Modeling & Dynamical Systems

Mathematical analysis of dynamical systems, with a focus on stability, multigroup models, multiple time scales and Geometric Singular Perturbation Theory (GSPT).

Epidemic Models and Dynamical Systems

Analysis of compartmental epidemic models, including multigroup systems, stability properties and the mathematical behavior of models with different time scales.

Collaboration
University of Trento and academic research collaborators
Research output
02 / EPIDEMICS

Epidemic Modeling, Information & Behavior

Epidemic dynamics on networks and graphs, the spread of information and misinformation, and the role of behavioral processes in disease transmission.

Information and Misinformation in Epidemic Models

Mathematical modeling of epidemic processes coupled with the spread of information and misinformation, using dynamical-systems methods to investigate how fast information dynamics affect epidemic behavior.

Collaboration
University of Trento and mathematical modeling collaborators
Research output

Epidemic Transmission on Networks

Study of epidemic dynamics in heterogeneous and scale-free networks, including the role of network structure and time-varying transmission.

Collaboration
Academic research collaborations
Research output
03 / STATISTICS

Medical Statistics & Epidemiology

Statistical analysis of clinical, cohort and population-level data, including cancer and cardiovascular epidemiology, survival and longitudinal analysis, risk prediction, and data harmonization in international studies.

International Cohort Studies: ACC, INHANCE and IESC3

Work with international pooled studies and consortia, including data management, quality control, harmonization and statistical analysis. ACC work included research on coffee and tea consumption in relation to pancreatic cancer mortality. Within INHANCE, my work also includes research on occupational exposures and head and neck cancer.

CollaborationResearch output
INHANCE occupational exposure research: in preparation. A related IESC3 research presentation is the talk Smoking and Alcohol Consumption and Risk of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Pooled Analysis of the IESC3 Consortium .

Global Trends in Colorectal Cancer (CRC)

Research focused on global trends in colorectal cancer, within the broader field of cancer epidemiology and statistical analysis of population data.

Collaboration
Cancer epidemiology research collaboration
Research output
Poster presented at the EACR–The Mark Foundation Joint Conference: Global Incidence of Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer: A WHO-Based Analysis from the Mid-20th Century to Present.

Cervical Cancer Biopsy Decision Support

Statistical and machine-learning methods, including principal component analysis, clustering and random forests, applied to support the analysis of cervical cancer biopsy data.

Collaboration
University of Bologna and AIRC
Research output
Article: in preparation.

FItPreV — Personalized Cardiovascular Prevention

Statistical and epidemiological analysis of a randomized pilot trial evaluating personalized cardiovascular prevention and its potential implementation in the Italian National Health Service.

Collaboration
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
Research output
Genetic Risk Scores and Wearables for CVD Prevention: Insights from the FItPreV Trial — poster presented at EUPHA 2025. Related publication: in preparation.

Return to Work After Liver Transplantation

Within project BRIC-2022-ID25, statistical analysis of a patient dataset combining clinical information and interview data, in an interdisciplinary project investigating unemployment risk factors and return to work among liver transplant recipients.

Collaboration
Interdisciplinary project on occupational reintegration after liver transplantation
Research output
04 / HEALTH ECONOMICS

Health Technology Assessment

Health technology assessment and economic evaluation of healthcare interventions, particularly cost-effectiveness analyses of influenza vaccination strategies in different populations and healthcare settings.

Influenza Vaccination: Health Technology Assessment and Economic Evaluation

Health technology assessment and cost-effectiveness analyses of influenza vaccination strategies across different populations and healthcare settings, including pediatric vaccination in Italy, vaccination strategies in Spain, and the evaluation of influenza vaccines for older adults.

Collaboration
VIHTALI (Italian HTA projects); Evidera and CSL Seqirus (Spanish HTA project).
Research output
05 / BIOMEDICAL

Mechanistic & Biomedical Modeling

Mechanistic mathematical modeling of therapeutic antibody immunogenicity and drug interactions in chronic inflammatory diseases.

06 / INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Vector-Borne Diseases & Transmission Networks

Mathematical modeling and data analysis for vector-borne disease control and infectious disease transmission in animal populations.

Wolbachia-Based Control of Aedes albopictus

Analysis of field data from releases of Wolbachia-infected male mosquitoes to assess fertility reduction in wild mosquito populations in Italy.

Collaboration
Sapienza University of Rome; ENEA; University of Trento; Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK)
Research output
Research output: in preparation.

Avian Influenza Transmission Networks

Mathematical modeling of avian influenza transmission across poultry farms in Veneto and Lombardy.

Collaboration
University of Trento; Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie (IZSVe)
Research output