 SEPTEMBER 3 • 2020 | 23

continued on page 24

Jews in the D

A

s an epidemiologist, Dr. Adva 
Gadoth has been thinking about 
COVID-19 since long before most 
Americans. She and her colleagues were 
hopeful back in February that the United 
States would keep the virus at bay.
But the U.S. couldn’
t control the virus 
in those crucial mid-February weeks, 
and that’
s when Gadoth and her col-
leagues knew this would spread 
like wildfire. 
“I think we all had this light bulb 
go off in mid-February that things 
are not going well,
” she said.
Gadoth, who grew up in 
Farmington Hills and earned her 
Ph.D. from UCLA in 2019, has 
been working as a staff epide-
miologist at UCLA. Prior to the 
COVID-19 pandemic, her work 
was focused on vaccination projects and 
studying emerging infectious diseases in 
low- and middle-income countries, pri-
marily the Democratic Republic of the 
Congo. 
Once the pandemic hit, though, 

Gadoth’
s team realized there was a need 
for better public health data right there 
in Los Angeles. They quickly transitioned 
into a research study that investigates the 
impact of the novel coronavirus on high-
risk populations in the L.A. area, begin-
ning with healthcare workers at the UCLA 
hospital and first responders from the L.A. 
County Fire Department. The team is now 

working to extend their study to teachers 
in the county. 
Gadoth describes the study as “popula-
tion-based research where we can kind of 
take a holistic look at what’
s happening in 
these groups. What differences do we see 

in behavior and practices that can explain 
upticks or down ticks in infection rate?” 
Her role is to coordinate the study, mean-
ing that she designs it to be unbiased and 
scientifically sound. That includes choosing 
which people to enroll in the study, making 
sure it adheres to ethical guidelines and 
overseeing the actual fieldwork — the test-
ing of subjects. 
Once the data is collected, she’
ll 
also analyze the findings and act 
as public relations person, making 
sure other scientists know about it 
and non-scientists can understand 
it. Keeping science and public 
health understandable to everyone 
is extremely important to Gadoth 
— she held virtual Q&A sessions 
with the Jewish Federation of 
Greater Los Angeles’
s young adult 
branch this spring. 
Gadoth has found her passion in the field 
of public health. “When I stumbled upon it 
in my undergrad career, I kind of instant-
ly knew it was what I wanted to do for a 
living,
” Gadoth told the Jewish News. “
All 

COURTESY OF ADVA GADOTH

 Epidemiologist
Looks at 
Impact of 
COVID-19
in L.A.

Dr. Adva Gadoth, originally of 
Farmington Hills, talks
coronavirus research and
her love for public health.

MAYA GOLDMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

“I think we all had this light 
bulb go off
 in mid-February 
that things are not going well.”

— ADVA GADOTH

