Rahul Arora

Biography

Rahul leads the Infectious Disease Informatics (IDI) group at the Center for Health Informatics, an interdisciplinary research group that deploys tools from epidemiology, user-centered design, and software engineering to solve the most pressing problems in public health. The group's flagship project, SeroTracker, synthesizes population-wide antibody testing studies (i.e., seroprevalence studies) to map worldwide immunity against several pathogens. Other ongoing  projects include a living meta-analysis of COVID hybrid immunity, designing new infectious disease monitoring systems, and work to automate systematic reviews.

The IDI group's research has led to over 20 papers in journals including The Lancet, Lancet Infectious Diseases, PLOS Medicine, and Nature Communications, been covered by outlets like The New York Times and the Economist, and led to over $2.3M CAD in funding. Rahul and team also routinely work closely with the WHO and several national public health agencies to translate their insights into impactful health policy. 

Beyond his academic work, Rahul co-founded Alethea Medical, a digital health startup that has provided over 20,000 patients with immediate access to specialist care and AI-assisted diagnosis. He also worked at Flagship Pioneering (the biotech venture studio that created Moderna), the Gates Foundation's Strategic Investment Fund, Health Canada, and the management consultancy McKinsey & Company. 

Rahul holds a PhD in Engineering Science from the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He also holds a BHSc (Honours) from the University of Calgary, where he received the University's highest academic and leadership awards for undergraduate students — the Muriel Kovitz Prize and the President's Award for Excellence in Student Leadership. He is an Open Philanthropy Century Fellow and Johns Hopkins ELBI Fellow.