Michael L. Jackson, PhD, MPH
Assistant Investigator
206-287-2220
jackson.ml@ghc.org
Recent publications
Curriculum vitae (CV)
Research interests and experience
- Epidemiology of infectious diseases: Disease burden, risk factors, transmission dynamics, surveillance and response
- Vaccine effectiveness: Methodology, removing bias in effectiveness estimates
- Vaccine safety: Rates of adverse events, safety of new vaccines
Michael L. Jackson’s research into the spread and control of infectious diseases focuses on understanding disease-transmission dynamics and the design and assessment of interventions such as vaccine programs. Also interested in vaccine safety, Dr. Jackson was a graduate research associate with Group Health Research Institute (GHRI) from 2002 to 2007 and a postdoctoral fellow at GHRI from 2007 to 2008. He recently returned to GHRI as an assistant scientific investigator after two years as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.
As a graduate student with GHRI, Dr. Jackson led research into whether flu vaccinations help prevent pneumonia in older adults. His 2008 paper in The Lancet won recognition for showing that flu vaccines for seniors (aged 65 to 94) are not as effective as previously thought. According to Dr. Jackson and his co-authors, many observational studies of influenza vaccine had overestimated the vaccine’s effectiveness in the elderly, with important policy consequences. Their work identified and removed the bias in these estimates—giving a more accurate picture of the benefits of influenza vaccination in the elderly. Other work during that time included studies of the epidemiology of community-acquired pneumonia, risk factors for pneumonia in seniors, and the effectiveness of pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccines.
As an EIS officer, Dr. Jackson helped lead investigations of whooping cough outbreaks and of the 2009 influenza pandemic. He also created a simulation model of the spread of Haemophilus influenzae Type b (Hib). Originally designed to help manage the 2008–2009 shortage of Hib vaccines in the United States, the model has been extended to other populations and is expected to have important implications for Hib vaccination programs in developing countries and during vaccine shortages. The model earned him the J. Virgil Peavy award for “Innovative use of statistics in an epidemiologic investigation” granted at the 2009 EIS annual conference.
While he loved the work he was doing at the CDC, Dr. Jackson realized he missed certain aspects of research and academia. When the opportunity to come back to GHRI arose, the wealth of available data, potential collaborations, and collegiality compelled him to take it.
Recent publications
Tartof S, Cohn A, Tarbangdo F, Djingarey MH, Messonnier N, Clark TA, Kambou JL, Novak R, Diomande FV, Medah I, Jackson ML. Identifying optimal vaccination strategies for serogroup A Neisseria meningitidis conjugate vaccine in the African meningitis belt. PLoS One. 2013 May 9;8(5):e63605. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0063605. Print 2013. PubMed
Jackson ML. Challenges in comparing the safety of different vaccination schedules. Vaccine. 2013 Apr 19;31(17):2126-9. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2013.02.054. Epub 2013 Mar 5. PubMed
Jackson ML, Nelson JC. The test-negative design for estimating influenza vaccine effectiveness. Vaccine. 2013 Apr 19;31(17):2165-8. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2013.02.053. Epub 2013 Mar 13. PubMed
Dublin S, Baldwin E, Walker RL, Christensen LM, Haug PJ, Jackson ML, Nelson JC, Ferraro J, Carrell D, Chapman WW. Natural language processing to identify pneumonia from radiology reports. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2013 Apr 1. doi: 10.1002/pds.3418. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Jackson L, Jackson ML, Phillips, H, Benoit J. Interim adjusted estimates of seasonal influenza vaccine effectiveness - United States, February 2013 MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. February 22, 2013 / 62(07);119-123.
Jackson LA, Jackson ML, Phillips H, Benoit J. Early estimates of seasonal influenza vaccine effectiveness - United States, January 2013 MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2013 Jan 18 / 62(02);32-5.
Hwang M, Shrestha A, Yazzie S, Jackson ML. Preterm birth among American Indian/Alaskan natives in Washington and Montana: comparison with non-Hispanic whites. Matern Child Health J. 2013 Jan 4 [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Greene SK, Li L, Shay DK, Fry AM, Lee GM, Jacobsen SJ, Baxter R, Irving SA, Jackson ML, Naleway AL, Nordin JD, Narwaney KJ, Lieu TA. Risk of adverse events following oseltamivir treatment in influenza outpatients, Vaccine Safety Datalink Project, 2007-2010. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2012 Nov 5. doi: 10.1002/pds.3363. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Dublin S, Walker RL, Jackson ML, Nelson JC, Weiss NS, Jackson LA. Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor use and pneumonia risk in community-dwelling older adults: results from a population-based case-control study. LID - 10.1002/pds.3340 [doi] Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2012 Nov;21(11):1173-82. doi: 10.1002/pds.3340. Epub 2012 Sep 5. PubMed
Briere EC, Jackson M, Shah SG, Cohn AC, Anderson RD, Macneil JR, Coronado FM, Mayer LW, Clark TA, Messonnier NE. Haemophilus influenzae type b disease and vaccine booster dose deferral, United States, 1998-2009. Pediatrics. 2012 Sep;130(3):414-20. Epub 2012 Aug 6. PubMed
To view more publications, please see Dr. Jackson's CV.