Rate My Professor Damon Toth

Damon Toth is a Research Associate Professor in the Division of Epidemiology, Department of Internal Medicine, at the University of Utah Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine, where he also holds an adjunct position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics. Trained as an applied mathematician, he obtained his BSE from Princeton University and both his MS and PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of Washington. Following his doctoral studies, Toth completed postdoctoral training in the Mathematical Biology group within the University of Utah's Department of Mathematics. His career at the University of Utah has focused on leveraging mathematical tools to address pressing challenges in public health, particularly infectious disease dynamics.

Toth's research interests center on mathematical modeling and simulation of the spread of infectious diseases. Notable accomplishments include major contributions to the Final Supplementary Risk Assessment for the Boston University National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL), network and transmission modeling for the CDC-sponsored Contacts among Utah's School-age Population (CUSP) project, modeling of infection and transmission of Clostridioides difficile in hospitals, and modeling of dose-response, incubation period, and transmission of infectious pathogens for use in risk analysis, outbreak prediction, and surveillance. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, with key works including "The potential for interventions in a long-term acute care hospital to reduce transmission of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae in affiliated healthcare facilities" (Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2017), "Economic evaluations of new antibiotics: the high potential value of reducing healthcare transmission through decolonization" (Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2021), "Model-based assessment of the effect of contact precautions applied to surveillance-detected carriers of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in long-term acute care hospitals" (Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2019), "High variability in transmission of SARS-CoV-2 within households and implications for control" (PLoS ONE, 2021), "Model-based estimates of age-structured SARS-CoV-2 epidemiology in households" (BMC Public Health, 2024), and "Transmission thresholds for the spread of infections in healthcare facilities" (PLoS Computational Biology, 2025). Toth's research has also examined Ebola outbreak risks, pandemic potential of avian influenza A(H7N9), and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus transmission dynamics, informing intervention strategies in healthcare and community settings.