Email rachaelpung@nus.edu.sg

Rachael’s research focuses on epidemiological modelling and public health analytics. Her work aims to translate complex modelling methods and outputs into meaningful actionable insights to support the design of epidemic preparedness, response and population health policies.

• NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health
• Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA)
• Precision Health Research (PRECISE)
• London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)
• Asian Centre for Health Security

• Infectious disease epidemiology
• Mathematical modelling
• Health economics

• Mathematical modelling

• PhD in Epidemiology and Public Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK
• MSc in Epidemiology, Imperial College London, UK
• BEng (Hons) in Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

• Bradford Hill Prize, LSHTM – 2025

• Assistant Director, One Health Office, CDA (2026 – present)
• Modelling consultant, PRECISE (2025 – present)

• Member and contributor of various working groups on pandemic influenza severity assessment and COVID-19 virus evolution

• Pung R, Firth JA, Russell TW, Rogers T, Lee VJ, Kucharski AJ. Temporal contact patterns and the implications for predicting superspreaders and planning of targeted outbreak control. J R Soc Interface. 2024 Dec;21(221):20240358
• Pung R, Kucharski AJ. Building in-house capabilities in health agencies and outsourcing to academia or industry: Considerations for effective infectious disease modelling. Epidemics. 2024 Dec:49:100802
• Pung R, Clapham HE, Lee VJ, Kucharski AJ, on behalf of the CMMID COVID-19 Working Group. Relative role of border restrictions, case finding and contact tracing in controlling SARS-CoV-2 in the presence of undetected transmission. BMC Med. 2023 Mar 16;21(1):97
• Pung R, Firth JA, Spurgin LG, Singapore CruiseSafe Working Group, CMMID COVID-19 Working Group, Lee VJ, Kucharski AJ. Using high-resolution contact networks to evaluate SARS-CoV-2 transmission and control in large-scale multi-day events. Nat Commun. 2022 Apr 12;13(1):1956
• Pung R, Mak TM, CMMID COVID-19 Working Group, Kucharski AJ, Lee VJ. Serial intervals observed in SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 variant cases. Lancet. 2021 Aug 10;398(10303):837–838
• Pung R, Chiew CJ, Young BE, Chin S, Chen MIC, Clapham HE, Cook AR, Maurer-Stroh S, Toh M, Poh C, Low M, Lum J, Koh VTJ, Chan PP, Low C, Raj P, Oh O, Lin Y, Said Z, Kurupatham L, Kalimuddin S, Kam KQ, Tan SY, Loh J, Mak TM, Cui L, Lin RVTP, Koh CT, Vasoo S, Heng D, Leo YS, Lye DC, Lee VJ, on behalf of the Singapore 2019 Novel Coronavirus Outbreak Research Team. Investigations of three clusters of COVID-19 in Singapore: Implications for surveillance and response measures. Lancet. 2020;395(10229):1039–1046.