Korryn Bodner

Assistant Professor

Ontario Veterinary College, Department of Population Medicine

MA, PhD (Toronto)

Office: Room 2541

Profile

Dr. Korryn Bodner is an assistant professor in Epidemiology and One Health in the Department of Population Medicine at OVC. She holds a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Advanced Epidemiology and Disease Modelling. Bodner completed her PhD in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto in 2021, where she specialized in the interface between mathematical modelling and disease ecology. Following her doctoral work, she served as a Research Associate at the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at Unity Health Toronto from 2021 to 2024. There, she applied simulation modelling to explore how bias and uncertainty affect the interpretation of vaccine effectiveness in public health research. Bodner is also the co-founder and current Chair of the Canadian Chapter of the Ecological Forecasting Initiative, a grassroots network committed to building capacity for ecological and epidemiological forecasting while fostering stronger links between scientific prediction and decision-making.

Research Interests

Bodner’s research focuses on the development and application of statistical and mathematical models to better understand, predict and prevent the spread of infectious diseases affecting wildlife, livestock and humans. Her work aims to support real-time forecasting, scenario testing and improved intervention strategies by tackling critical challenges in bias, uncertainty and model reliability.

Current Students

Bodner is currently seeking graduate students to join her research group. If your research interests align with hers, you are encouraged to reach out to discuss available opportunities. Please email Bodner with an unofficial transcript, your academic CV and a brief statement describing your research interests and how they connect to her work

Teaching

POPM*6100 – Seminar
POPM*6800 – Infectious Disease Modeling

Selected Publications

1. Bodner, K., Knight, J., Hamilton, M.A., & Mishra, S. (2023). Testing if higher contact among vaccinated can be a mechanism for observed negative vaccine effectiveness. American Journal of Epidemiology, kwad055.

2. Bodner, K., Irvine, M.A., Kwong, J.C., & Mishra, S. (2023). Observed negative vaccine effectiveness could be the canary in the coal mine for biases in observational COVID-19 studies. International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 131, 111–114.

3. Bodner, K., Rauen Firkowski, C., Bennett, J., Brookson, C., Dietze, M., Green, S., et al. (2021). Bridging the divide between ecological forecasts and environmental decision-making. Ecosphere, 12(12), e03869.

4. Bodner, K., Brimacombe, C., Chenery, E.S., Greiner, A., McLeod, A.M., Penk, S.R., & Vargas Soto, J.S. (2021). Ten simple rules for tackling your first mathematical models: A guide for graduate students by graduate students. PLoS Computational Biology, 17(1), e1008539.

5. Penk, S.R., Bodner, K., Vargas Soto, J.S., Chenery, E.S., Nascou, A., & Molnár, P.K. (2021). Mechanistic models can reveal infection pathways from prevalence data: The mysterious case of polar bears Ursus maritimus and Trichinella nativa. Oikos, 130(2), 197–210.

6. Bodner, K., Fortin, M.-J., & Molnár, P.K. (2020). Making predictive modelling ART: Accurate, reliable, and transparent. Ecosphere, 11(6), e03160.

Professional Links

Google Scholar Profile: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=eiroBDYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao