Dr Claudio Fronterre PhD

Dr Claudio Fronterre

Department of Applied Health Sciences
Senior Research Fellow in Statistical Science

Contact details

Email
c.fronterre@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@ClaudioFronterr
View my research portal
Address
BESTEAM
Department of Applied Health Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Claudio Fronterre is a statistical scientist specialising in spatial and spatio-temporal modelling for global health, with a focus on neglected tropical diseases and other health challenges in low-resource settings. His work develops geostatistical and decision-analytic methods to improve disease surveillance, map disease burden and support programmatic decision-making for national and international partners.

He co-leads the Geostatistics for Global Health (GGH) programme funded by the Gates Foundation, where he oversees the development of modelling frameworks and analytic tools that inform large-scale NTD control and elimination strategies. Through this programme he works closely with ministries of health, global health organisations and academic partners to ensure that statistical innovation translates into actionable policy insights.

Claudio contributes to MSc teaching in statistical modelling and epidemiology and delivers international training courses in model-based geostatistics. He supervises postgraduate researchers and is committed to inclusive mentorship and global capacity building.

ORCiD

Google Scholar

ResearchGate

Qualifications

  • PhD in Statistical Science, University of Padua, 2018
  • MSc in Finance, University of Trento, 2014
  • BSc in Economics and Management, University of Trento, 2012

Biography

Dr Claudio Fronterre is a statistical scientist specialising in spatial and spatio-temporal modelling for global health, with a particular focus on neglected tropical diseases and other health challenges in low-resource settings. His research develops geostatistical methods to improve disease surveillance, quantify disease burden and support programmatic decision-making. He has led several internationally funded projects as Principal Investigator and collaborates with global partners to ensure that statistical innovation informs real-world health policy.

Claudio has created and delivered MSc-level modules in statistical modelling and epidemiology, and he has 

developed and taught international training courses in model-based geostatistics for diverse audiences, including health professionals, national programme staff and academic researchers. He adopts a research-led and inclusive approach to teaching, integrating practical applications and reproducible analytical tools to support students from a wide range of academic and professional backgrounds.

He supervises MSc and PhD students as well as postdoctoral researchers working across interdisciplinary areas in spatial statistics and disease mapping.

Claudio’s work reflects a broader commitment to capacity building, equity in global health and the role of statistical science in advancing evidence-based policy and sustainable public health impact. His academic career is grounded in the belief that rigorous statistical modelling, when combined with open and collaborative partnerships, can substantially improve disease control programmes and strengthen decision-making in settings where data and resources are limited.

Postgraduate supervision

Claudio welcomes PhD applications from motivated students interested in statistical modelling for global public health, particularly in:

  • Spatialand spatio-temporal statistics: including model-based geostatistics and hierarchical modelling;
  • Epidemiology of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs): including methods for disease mapping, surveillance, and impact evaluation of control programmes;
  • Statistical and computational methods for infectious disease modelling: such as integration of heterogeneous data sources, small-area estimation, and uncertainty quantification;
  • Decision-support tools and data-driven approaches for health policy in low-resource settings.

I am particularly keen to supervise projects that combine advanced statistical modelling with real-world applications in global health and epidemiology.

Research

Claudio’s research focuses on the development and application of advanced statistical methods to address global public health challenges. His main areas of interest include:

  • Spatial and spatio-temporal statistical modelling for global health, with an emphasis on model-based geostatistics approaches for disease surveillance and burden estimation.
  • Mapping and modelling neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) to support control and elimination strategies.
  • Survey design and surveillance systems, particularly the optimisation of sampling strategies, impact monitoring and the use of data-driven approaches for decision-making in low-resource settings.
  • Statistical and computational methods for infectious disease modelling, including small-area estimation, uncertainty quantification and integration of heterogeneous data sources.
  • Open-source statistical software and global capacity building: promoting reproducibility, accessibility and the development of analytical skills within national public health programmes.

Other activities

Founder and Director of Kuro Neko Analytics, a consultancy providing statistical modelling and decision-support expertise for global health organisations (2024–present).

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Ssentongo, P, Sasanami, M, Moeckel, C & Fronterrè, C 2026, 'Geospatial Mapping of Pediatric Febrile Illness in Uganda to Inform Precision Public Health Interventions', Open Forum Infectious Diseases, vol. 13, no. 1, ofaf760. https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofaf760

Farah, F, Fronterrè, C, Taylor, MJ & Forrer, A 2026, 'The impact of the termination of Lymphatic Filariasis mass drug administration on Soil-transmitted Helminth prevalence in school children in Malawi', PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, vol. 20, no. 2, e0012639. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0012639

Reed, AL, Kayuni, SA, Musaya, J, Stothard, JR, Fronterre, C & Jewell, C 2025, 'Development of a dynamical model to enhance understanding of epidemiology of schistosomiasis in school-aged-children', Scientific Reports, vol. 15, no. 1, 45091. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-32664-w

Bernabeu, A, Fronterrè, C & Mateu, J 2025, 'Misspecification issues between competitive spatio-temporal cluster point processes', Spatial Statistics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spasta.2025.100940

Niamsi-Emalio, Y, Nana-Djeunga, HC, Fronterrè, C, Shrestha, H, Nko’ayissi, GB, Mpaba Minkat, TM, Kamgno, J & Basáñez, MG 2025, 'Model-Based Geostatistical Mapping of the Prevalence of Onchocerca volvulus in Cameroon between 1971 and 2020', PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, vol. 19, no. 3, e0012250. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0012250

Ssentongo, P, Fronterre, C, Ericson, JE, Wang, M, Al-Shaar, L, Greatrex, H, Omadi, PO, Muvawala, J, Greybush, SJ, Mbabazi, PK, Murray-Kolb, LE, Muwanguzi, AJB & Schiff, SJ 2025, 'Preconception and Prenatal Environment and Growth Faltering Among Children in Uganda', JAMA network open, vol. 8, no. 3, e251122. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.1122

Harte, A, Sasanami, M, Burgert-Brucker, CR, Bakhtiari, A, Bisanzio, D, Jimenez, C, Solomon, AW, Kabona, GE, Masika, MP, Ngondi, J, Ante-Testard, PA, Arnold, BF, Baayenda, G, Cuenca, PR, Diggle, PJ, Edirweera, D, Emerson, PM, Fronterre, C, Gass, K, Newbury, L, Hooper, PJ, Kamau, E, Kebede, F, Kyomuhangi, I, Lietman, TM, McCracken, K, Minnery, M, Nash, SD, Nicholls, T, Olobio, N, Palmer, SL, Saeedzai, SA, Somerville, S, Stern, C, Stukel, D, Szwarcwald, CL, Talero, SL, Yevstigneyeva, V, Kello, AB, Harding-Esch, E & Giorgi, E 2025, 'Using Model-Based Geostatistics to Refine Population-Based Estimates of Trachoma Prevalence: Update from a Technical Consultation', American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, vol. 113, no. 4, pp. 930–936. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.25-0023

Vasconcelos, A, King, JD, Nunes-Alves, C, Anderson, R, Argaw, D, Basáñez, MG, Bilal, S, Blok, DJ, Blumberg, S, Borlase, A, Brady, OJ, Browning, R, Chitnis, N, Coffeng, LE, Crowley, EH, Cucunubá, ZM, Cummings, DAT, Davis, CN, Davis, EL, Dixon, M, Dobson, A, Dyson, L, French, M, Fronterre, C, Giorgi, E, Huang, C-I, Jain, S, James, A, Kim, SH, Kura, K, Lucianez, A, Marks, M, Mbabazi, PS, Medley, GF, Michael, E, Montresor, A, Mutono, N, Mwangi, TS, Rock, KS, Saboyá-Díaz, MI, Sasanami, M, Schwehm, M, Spencer, SEF, Srivathsan, A, Stawski, RS, Stolk, WA, Sutherland, SA, Tchuente, LAT, De Vlas, SJ, Walker, M, Brooker, SJ, Hollingsworth, TD, Solomon, AW & Fall, IS 2024, 'Accelerating progress towards the 2030 Neglected Tropical Diseases targets: How can quantitative modeling support programmatic decisions?', Clinical Infectious Diseases, vol. 78, no. Supplement_2, pp. S83-S92. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciae082

Eyre, MT, Bulstra, CA, Johnson, O, de Vlas, SJ, Diggle, PJ, Fronterrè, C & Coffeng, LE 2024, 'A comparison of Markov and mechanistic models for soil-transmitted helminth prevalence projections in the context of survey design', Clinical Infectious Diseases, vol. 78, no. Supplement_2, pp. S146-S152. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciae022

Reed, AL, Al-Harbi, MH, Makaula, P, Condemine, C, Hesketh, J, Archer, J, Jones, S, Kayuni, SA, Musaya, J, Stanton, MC, Stothard, JR, Fronterre, C & Jewell, C 2024, 'A geospatial analysis of local intermediate snail host distributions provides insight into schistosomiasis risk within under-sampled areas of southern Lake Malawi', Parasites and Vectors, vol. 17, 272. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-024-06353-y

Touloupou, P, Fronterre, C, Cano, J, Prada, JM, Smith, M, Kontoroupis, P, Brown, P, Rivera, RC, Vlas, SJD, Gunawardena, S, Irvine, MA, Njenga, SM, Reimer, L, Seife, F, Sharma, S, Michael, E, Stolk, WA, Pulan, R, Spencer, SEF & Hollingsworth, TD 2024, 'An Ensemble Framework for Projecting the Impact of Lymphatic Filariasis Interventions Across Sub-Saharan Africa at a Fine Spatial Scale', Clinical Infectious Diseases, vol. 78, no. Supplement_2, pp. S108–S116. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciae071

Minnery, M, Okoyo, C, Morgan, G, Wang, A, Johnson, O, Fronterre, C, Montresor, A, Campbell, SJ, Mwandawiro, C & Diggle, P 2024, 'Cost-effectiveness of comparative survey designs for helminth control programs: Posthoc cost analysis and modelling of the Kenyan national school-based deworming program', PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, vol. 18, no. 12, e0011583. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0011583

Okoyo, C, Minnery, M, Orowe, I, Owaga, C, Campbell, SJ, Wambugu, C, Olick, N, Hagemann, J, Omondi, WP, McCracken, K, Montresor, A, Medley, GF, Fronterre, C, Diggle, P & Mwandawiro, C 2023, 'Model-based geostatistical design and analysis of prevalence for soil-transmitted helminths in Kenya: Results from ten-years of the Kenya national school-based deworming programme', Heliyon, vol. 9, no. 10, e20695. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20695

Diggle, PJ, Fronterre, C, Gass, K, Hundley, L, Niles-Robin, R, Sampson, A, Morice, A & Scholte, RC 2023, 'Modernizing the design and analysis of prevalence surveys for neglected tropical diseases', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 378, no. 1887, 20220276. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0276

Preprint

Clark, FN, Purkiss, J, Khalid, F, Fronterre, C, Okoyo, C, Cantor, E, Kyomuhangi, I, Chirombo, J, Henrion, M, Omitola, OO, Azhari, AN, Chailloux, A, Montressor, A, Njuguna, B, Hanson, C, Lau, C, Ndellejong, CE, Cametti, C, Mupfasoni, D, Sankara, D, Harding-Esch, EM, Mensah, E, Floyd, J, Cano, J, Timothy, J, Velasco, J, Gass, K, Sullivan, KM, Minnery, M, Mort, M, Mutono, N, Mbabazi, P, Poon, P, Diggle, PJ, Pullan, R, Scholte, RC, Ajjampur, SSR, Jacob, SM, Sayianka, S, Somerville, S, Kim, SH, Hernandes Rocha, TA, Mwangi, T, Kumar, VS, Oswald, W & Giorgi, E 2025 'Developing a framework for building geostatistical capacity to support decision making in national disease control programmes: a meeting report' Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.15602920

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