Larisse Bolton, PhD

Larisse Bolton holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of the Free State, where her research focused on mathematical modelling approaches for paediatric cancers. Her expertise spans applied mathematics and mathematical modelling, data analysis, and epidemiology, with applications aimed at improving public health systems. To date, Larisse has collaborated with the South African National Blood Services (SANBS), the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at Tygerberg Hospital, and the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) by addressing neonatal sepsis mortality, optimizing healthcare resource allocation, and strengthening epidemiological capacity to combat infectious diseases.  Her current research focuses on the application of data science approaches to maternal and child health priority diseases, namely gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia and neonatal sepsis, respectively, through collaborations with the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and the NeoNET AFRICA network.

She further serves as a postgraduate supervisor and contributes to capacity development by presenting the computational arm of Introduction to Epidemiological Analysis.