Linda Niccolai, PhD
Anna M. R. Lauder Professor of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases and Senior Associate Dean for EducationCards
Additional Titles
Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health
Director, HPV Working Group at Yale
Director, CT Emerging Infections Program at Yale, Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases
Contact Info
Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases
PO Box 208034, 60 College Street
New Haven, CT 06520-8034
United States
About
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Titles
Anna M. R. Lauder Professor of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases and Senior Associate Dean for Education
Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health; Director, HPV Working Group at Yale; Director, CT Emerging Infections Program at Yale, Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases
Biography
Linda Niccolai is the Senior Associate Dean for Education at Yale School of Public Health and Professor in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases. She is an internationally recognized scholar in infectious disease epidemiology with specific interests in vaccine-preventable diseases and emerging and re-emerging infections. Her vaccinology research focuses on understanding uptake, impact, and effectiveness of HPV and other adolescent vaccines with an emphasis on addressing health disparities. Funded by a diverse grant portfolio (NIH, CDC, and private foundations), her work is interdisciplinary by design and includes applied epidemiology, public health monitoring, and both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Her work includes a special focus on the social and structural determinants of health.
As Director of the CDC-funded CT Emerging Infections Program at Yale, she oversees a large program of public health surveillance and applied epidemiology research focused on respiratory viruses (including SARS-CoV-2), foodborne illness, healthcare associated infections at the community interface, and HPV vaccine impact.
Dr. Niccolai is currently on the editorial board for Sexually Transmitted Diseases, and she has served as an adviser and reviewer for National Institutes of Health (including serving as chair of Health Promotion in Communities study section) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conferences and grant programs. She participated as a Fellow in the 2023-2024 Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine® (ELAM) Program, a prestigious leadership program committed to advancing women for leadership positions in academic medicine.
Dr. Niccolai received her Sc.M. at Harvard School of Public Health and her Ph.D. at Tulane University. She has been teaching epidemiology methods courses to MPH, MS, and PhD students for over 20 years.
Appointments
Yale School of Public Health
Senior Associate DeanDualEpidemiology of Microbial Diseases
ProfessorPrimary
Other Departments & Organizations
- Academic Affairs
- Cancer Prevention and Control
- Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS
- Connecticut Emerging Infections Program
- Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases
- Global Health Studies
- HPV Working Group (Niccolai Lab)
- Yale Cancer Center
- Yale Institute for Global Health
- Yale School of Public Health
- Yale Ventures
- Yale-UPR Integrated HIV Basic and Clinical Sciences Initiative
- YSPH Global Health Concentration
Education & Training
- PhD
- Tulane University, Epidemiology (2000)
- MSc
- Harvard School of Public Health, Epidemiology (1995)
- BS
- Georgetown University, Mathematics (1991)
Research
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Overview
Linda Niccolai is a professor in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the Yale School of Public Health. She is Co-director of the Connecticut Emerging Infections Program at Yale and Director of the Development Core for Yale School of Public Health’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS. Her research focuses on sexually transmitted infections, including HPV and HIV. Dr. Niccolai is the principal investigator of project to monitor vaccine impact for human papillomavirus (funded by CDC) and also PI of an NIH-funded mixed methods study to assess barriers to uptake of HPV vaccine.
Linda Niccolai received her Sc.M. at Harvard School of Public Health and her Ph.D. at Tulane University. She is the recipient of Connecticut Infectious Disease Society Thorton Award for Best Poster Presentation in Clinical Research in Infectious Disease and Award for Excellence in Teaching at YSPH.
- Monitoring Impact of Human Papillomavirus Vaccine in Connecticut
- Identifying and Quantifying Barriers to Uptake of HPV vaccine
- Feasibility of a school-based intervention for HPV vaccination
- Increasing HPV vaccination coverage among adolescents in Connecticut
- Social determinants of HIV risk
Medical Research Interests
Public Health Interests
ORCID
0000-0003-2969-3157- View Lab Website
HPV Working Group
Research at a Glance
Yale Co-Authors
Publications Timeline
Research Interests
Carlos R Oliveira, MD, PhD
Robert Heimer, PhD
Eugene Shapiro, MD
James Meek
Former YSMJeannette Ickovics, PhD
Jessica Lewis, PhD, LMFT, MPhil
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Vaccines
Publications
2026
Decreases in Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Types 16 and 18 in Cervical Precancers: HPV-IMPACT, 2008 to 2019.
Stefanos R, Gargano J, Niccolai L, Castilho J, Park I, Bostick E, Ehlers S, Blankenship S, Brackney M, Chan K, Kurtz R, Whitney E, Moritz R, Vigar M, Querec T, Unger E, Markowitz L, Adeyemi D, Clarke S, Delikat E, Higgins K, Meek J, Silverberg M. Decreases in Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Types 16 and 18 in Cervical Precancers: HPV-IMPACT, 2008 to 2019. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention 2026, 35: 913-920. PMID: 42089801, DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.epi-25-1065.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchAltmetricMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsCervical precancerVaccine impactYears of ageUnvaccinated womenAverage annual percent changeCervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2HPV vaccine typesArchival diagnostic tissueProportion of CIN2Adenocarcinoma in situPopulation-based surveillance programProportion of casesHPV typesHistological subgroupsAnnual percent changeHPV-IMPACTDiagnostic tissueCervical cancerGrade 2HPVPrecancerVaccine typesEvaluations of vaccine impactSurveillance sitesPercent changeIncidence of human papillomavirus infections in women aged 27 years and older in the US: A federated data network study
Stein E, Saxena K, Peer T, Tota J, You X, Wang D, Chen Y, Chan K, Niccolai L. Incidence of human papillomavirus infections in women aged 27 years and older in the US: A federated data network study. International Journal Of Infectious Diseases 2026, 168: 108715. PMID: 42001931, DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2026.108715.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchAltmetricMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsIncidence of HPV infectionHuman papillomavirus infectionHuman papillomavirusHPV infectionCumulative incidenceIncidence of human papillomavirus infectionRisk of HPV-related diseaseNegative HPV testHPV-related diseasesInfection incidenceHuman papillomavirus vaccineRetrospective cohort studyAge groupsMedicaid-enrolled womenCumulative incidence rateUS Advisory CommitteeCumulative incidence estimatesHPV testingPapillomavirus infectionYounger age groupsClinical decision-makingCohort studyHealth insurance claims dataImmunization PracticesIncidence rateReal-world effectiveness of perinatal RSV immunoprophylaxis: protocol for a test-negative case–control study
Llorente C, Wats A, Araujo B, Ganem J, Oliva I, Xu H, Brodsky N, Lucas C, Aronson P, Grubaugh N, Breban M, Redmond S, Shapiro E, Niccolai L, Weinberger D, Oliveira C. Real-world effectiveness of perinatal RSV immunoprophylaxis: protocol for a test-negative case–control study. BMJ Open 2026, 16: e114524. PMID: 41856594, PMCID: PMC13007147, DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-114524.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsRespiratory syncytial virusAcute respiratory illnessTest-negative case-control studyCase-control studyLong-acting monoclonal antibodiesSingle-cell immune profilingRSV-negative infantsImmune-escape mutationsConvalescent blood samplesRSV-positive specimensPrelicensure clinical trialsMultivariate logistic regressionWritten Informed ConsentHuman Investigation CommitteeMaternal vaccinationState immunization registryImmune profileBreakthrough infectionSyncytial virusClinical trialsNational InstituteVaccine effectivenessPotential confoundersControlled TrialsInfants
2025
Clinical effectiveness of HPV vaccine by age at vaccination: a matched case-control study
Oliveira C, Shapiro E, Sheth S, Ellingson M, Johnson N, Sullivan E, Querec T, Unger E, Niccolai L. Clinical effectiveness of HPV vaccine by age at vaccination: a matched case-control study. The Lancet Regional Health - Americas 2025, 51: 101225. PMID: 41019517, PMCID: PMC12465035, DOI: 10.1016/j.lana.2025.101225.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricConceptsHPV vaccinationCase-control studyHuman papillomavirusVaccine effectivenessClinical effectsDose of HPV vaccineHigh-grade cervical lesionsOdds ratioBenefits of HPV vaccinationEffectiveness of HPV vaccinationMultivariable conditional logistic regression modelsVaccine-eligible womenPap smear resultsHuman papillomavirus vaccineConfidence intervalsConditional logistic regression modelsCenters for Disease Control and PreventionDisease Control and PreventionCervical lesionsSmear resultsFirst doseHPV-16Pap testControl and PreventionLogistic regression modelsEpidemiologic, clinical, and economic burden of anogenital warts among adults: A global systematic review
You X, Valente S, Machalek D, Felsher M, Pieniazek I, Nowicka K, Tota J, Chen Y, Niccolai L, Cui F. Epidemiologic, clinical, and economic burden of anogenital warts among adults: A global systematic review. International Journal Of Infectious Diseases 2025, 161: 108029. PMID: 40882763, DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2025.108029.Peer-Reviewed Reviews, Practice Guidelines, Standards, and Consensus StatementsCitationsAltmetricConceptsAnogenital wartsHuman papillomavirusManifestations of human papillomavirusEconomic burdenHuman papillomavirus vaccination programsSystematic reviewEvidence-Based Medicine ReviewsClinical impactIncidence rateEpidemiological dataGlobal systematic reviewGlobal surveillanceHigh-income countriesVaccination programMedicine ReviewsWartsAgeConference proceedingsEvidence-basedIncidenceIncome levelSexBurdenReviewPapillomavirusMpox among people reporting being unhoused or engaging in transactional sex within a multijurisdictional case-control study of sexually and gender minoritized individuals— United States, August 2022–March 2024
Sherman J, Morris A, Niccolai L, Ruff A, Schneider D, Sutton M, Hawkins S, Pathela P, Betancourt G, Rothrock G, Nadle J, Rowlands J, Felsen C, Britton A, Farley M, Duval L, Kamis K, Still W, Morrow A, Waddell C. Mpox among people reporting being unhoused or engaging in transactional sex within a multijurisdictional case-control study of sexually and gender minoritized individuals— United States, August 2022–March 2024. Social Science & Medicine 2025, 383: 118497. PMID: 40857851, DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118497.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsHousing statusTransactional sexImpact of homelessnessMultilevel logistic regression modelsLow barrier accessExperience homelessnessHousing supportSGM individualsStructural inequalitiesSGM participantsSGM populationsHomelessnessMinoritized individualsSexual health clinicsSGMU.S. jurisdictionsHousingMpox outbreakAssociated with higher oddsSecondary analysis of dataUnited StatesSecondary analysisHealth clinicsPeopleGenderInfluence of Community-Level Factors on Health Care Provider Recommendations for HPV Vaccine
Ellingson M, O’Leary S, Schwartz J, Niccolai L. Influence of Community-Level Factors on Health Care Provider Recommendations for HPV Vaccine. Pediatrics Open Science 2025, 1: 10.1542/pedsos.2024-000263. PMID: 42211781, PMCID: PMC13215693, DOI: 10.1542/pedsos.2024-000263.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsConceptsCommunity-level factorsHealth care providersHealth care provider recommendationHuman papillomavirus vaccineHuman papillomavirusInfluence of community-level factorsNon-White adolescentsZip codesNational Immunization Survey-TeenHuman papillomavirus vaccine coverageHigh-poverty zip codesRate of unemploymentAssociated with higher population densityCommunity-level educationUS Census Bureau dataAge-eligible patientsCare provider recommendationEvidence-based interventionsCensus Bureau dataPoverty statusLogistic regression analysisAdolescent raceStatistically significant interactionCare providersSurvey-TeenEstimated Effectiveness of Nirsevimab Against Respiratory Syncytial Virus
Xu H, Aparicio C, Wats A, Araujo B, Pitzer V, Warren J, Shapiro E, Niccolai L, Weinberger D, Oliveira C. Estimated Effectiveness of Nirsevimab Against Respiratory Syncytial Virus. JAMA Network Open 2025, 8: e250380. PMID: 40063022, PMCID: PMC11894488, DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.0380.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsRSV-positive casesCase-control studyRSV infectionLRTI-associated hospitalizationsWeeks postimmunizationLong-acting monoclonal antibodiesTest-negative case-control studyClinical settingRespiratory syncytial virusMultivariate logistic regressionYale New Haven Health SystemRSV diseaseEmergency department dataState immunization registryRSV seasonSyncytial virusNirsevimabPolymerase chain reactionClinical trialsLRTIInfantsPotential confoundersMonoclonal antibodiesBroader outcomesDisease severity
2024
Barriers to the Uptake of Tickborne Disease Prevention Measures: Connecticut, Maryland 2016-2017
Hansen A, Wilkinson M, Niesobecki S, Rutz H, Meek J, Niccolai L, Hinckley A, Hook S. Barriers to the Uptake of Tickborne Disease Prevention Measures: Connecticut, Maryland 2016-2017. Journal Of Public Health Management And Practice 2024, 31: e52-e60. PMID: 39321400, DOI: 10.1097/phh.0000000000002033.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricConceptsPersonal safety concernsPreventive measuresBarriers to consistent usePublic health programsLogistic regression modelsHealth programsTickborne diseasesDisease prevention measuresDemographic variablesPrimary barrierOutdoor activitiesTick checksDescriptive analysisOnline surveyRegression modelsSafety concernsCost concernsNatural pesticidesIncreased uptakePreventionBarriersTick habitatsSurveyConnecticutConcernsU.S. Women with Invasive Cervical Cancer: Characteristics and Potential Barriers to Prevention
Rosenblum H, Gargano J, Cleveland A, Dahl R, Park I, Whitney E, Castilho J, Sackey E, Niccolai L, Brackney M, Debess E, Ehlers S, Bennett N, Kurtz R, Unger E, Markowitz L, Group T. U.S. Women with Invasive Cervical Cancer: Characteristics and Potential Barriers to Prevention. Journal Of Women's Health 2024, 33: 594-603. PMID: 38608239, PMCID: PMC11995403, DOI: 10.1089/jwh.2023.0462.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricConceptsInvasive cervical cancerEvaluate characteristics of womenPopulation-based descriptive studyInvasive cervical cancer diagnosisCervical cancer screeningReduce cervical cancer ratesPopulation-based surveillance sitesCervical cancer ratesIdentified potential barriersNon-white womenAdvent of screeningPotential barriersCharacteristics of womenIncident invasive cervical cancerCancer screeningPreventive careCancer ratesCervical cancerMental illnessSubstance use disordersChi-square testDescriptive frequenciesDescriptive studyMultiple barriersSurveillance sites
Academic Achievements & Community Involvement
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Activities
activity HIV/AIDS, Russia
01/01/2010 - PresentResearchDetailsSaint Petersburg, St.-Petersburg, RussiaAbstract/SynopsisThe Context of HIV Testing for Detection of Early HIV Infection in St. Petersburg
activity AIDS International Training and Research Program (AITRP)
01/01/2009 - PresentResearchDetailsChina; India; Russia +1 moreAbstract/SynopsisTraining researchers from the Russian Federation, China, India, and South Africa in HIV prevention research.
Honors
honor Fellow
04/17/2024National AwardExecutive Leadership in Academic Medicine® (ELAM) ProgramDetailsUnited Stateshonor Chair
07/01/2021National AwardNational Institutes of Health Study Section: Health Promotion in CommunitiesDetailsUnited Stateshonor Elected Member
05/01/2021Regional AwardConnecticut Academy of Science and EngineeringDetailsUnited Stateshonor Population Science Research Prize
01/15/2019Yale School of Medicine AwardYale Cancer CenterDetailsUnited Stateshonor Immunization Champion for State of Connecticut
03/01/2017National AwardCenters for Disease Control and PreventionDetailsUnited States
News
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News
- November 12, 2025
YSPH alumna applying laboratory skills to improve global health
- January 07, 2025
Maternal Vaccination During Pregnancy
- October 24, 2024
The Importance of COVID Vaccine for Pregnant Women
- June 27, 2024
YSPH joins national coalition strengthening public health preparedness
Get In Touch
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Contacts
Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases
PO Box 208034, 60 College Street
New Haven, CT 06520-8034
United States
Locations
60 College Street
Academic Office
Ste 404
New Haven, CT 06510