About P.A. (Pauline) de Best
Introduction
Pauline is interested in public health challenges for (zoonotic) infectious diseases, including the hard to predict influences of climate change and climate adaptation measures on infectious disease risks. By applying mixed methods from both social and biomedical sciences, she aims to get a better understanding of how we can prepare and respond to (emerging) infectious diseases. For example, by engaging local stakeholders (e.g. municipalities) or optimizing risk-assessment tools for infectious diseases.
Field(s) of expertise
Education and career
Education:
2020 – 2025 PhD, Knowledge to Practice, preparedness and response for mosquito-borne viruses; Erasmus MC and RIVM. Supervisors: Prof dr. Marion Koopmans and Prof dr. Aura Timen.2017 – 2019 Master Biomedical sciences - Epidemiology and infectious diseases control, Radboud University
Work experience:
2025 – current: Postdoc viroscience/PDPC; UNITY project: UNified Integration of Health and Societal Impact Translation of Yield to policy and practice2024 – current: Postdoc at the department of Viroscience, Erasmus MC. Research topic: Climate adaptation and mosquito-borne disease risks; ClimateHUB project.
Publications
2025 - A multidisciplinary approach to the detection of and response to West Nile virus in the Netherlands between 2020 and 2023: best practices, challenges and opportunities, accepted for Eurosurveillance
2025 - One Health preparedness and response for mosquito-borne viruses: a stakeholder- and social network-analysis in the Netherlands; BMC Public Health. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-025-21539-4
2024 - Determinants of intended prevention behaviour against mosquitoes and mosquito-borne viruses in the Netherlands and Spain using the MosquitoWise survey: cross-sectional study; BMC Public Health
https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-024-19293-0
2024 - Development and validation of the MosquitoWise survey to assess perceptions towards mosquitoes and mosquito-borne viruses in Europe. Nature Scientific reports https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-52219-9
2023 - Rapid response screening for emerging zoonotic pathogens, barriers and opportunities: A study for enhanced preparedness of the Netherlands. One Health https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352771423000277
2021 Emerging arboviral diseases, Nederlands. NTMM
2020 Run dirty, stay healthy. Infectieziekten bulletin
|https://www.rivm.nl/weblog/run-dirty-stay-healthy-IB-12-2020
Current research projects
Scholarships, grants, and awards
2025 Cost Lilly – Mobility Grant (€ 1000)
