Robert “Toby” Koch, B.S.
MPH student/Communications Assistant | Yale School of Public Health | Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases
Laboratory of Epidemiology of Public Health (LEPH) | 60 College St. | New Haven, CT 06510
Email: [email protected]
BS in Public Health – Westminster College
MPH Candidate in Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases – Yale School of Public Health
My interest in infectious diseases began on a volunteer trip to Zimbabwe in 2007 where I cleaned wounds and helped in a medical tent as an entirely unqualified 15 year old. That set me on the path that ultimately has landed me in public health. While originally from Pasadena, CA, I moved to Utah to get my BS in Public Health from Westminster College. After graduation, I took a gap year before grad school. I crammed one year into six and since then have worked as an after school program manager, wilderness therapy counselor, ski instructor, and most notably as a Public Health Associate for the CDC in Washington State. There I split my time between the Immunization Office writing R programs to identify missing Perinatal Hepatitis B cases from lab data and the Zoonotic Disease Office trapping ticks and mosquitoes and testing them for West Nile, Lyme, RMSF and other diseases in the lab.
In the Grubaugh Lab I am currently working remotely as Communications Assistant for the SalivaDirect team where I help manage the website, email, and collect data on labs that have been designated under SalivaDirects Emergency Use Authorization through the FDA.
My life goal is to blend my two passions of the outdoors and infectious diseases by researching emerging zoonotic diseases in wildlife and convincing someone they should pay me to do so. When I am not thinking about infectious diseases, I enjoy photography and spending my time traveling to, climbing on and skiing down mountains.
