About Acropolis Analytics Research Institute
Acropolis Analytics Research Institute focuses on conducting science to build computation- and modeling-based research tools that help carry evidence from science into medicine, from medicine into policy, and from policy into measurable health outcomes in patients and their communities.
Approach
Acropolis Analytics Research Institute starts from a simple chain of responsibility: science should inform medicine, medicine should inform policy, and policy should meaningfully improve the health of patients and communities. The institute focuses on computation- and modeling-based research that can translate complex data—whether from epidemiology, clinical science, or laboratory work—into clear, testable insights along that chain.
Rather than limiting its work to classical epidemiology, Acropolis Analytics Research Institute builds platforms and models that connect multiple domains: population-level surveillance, clinical outcomes, and emerging biomedical technologies. The goal is to produce analyses and tools that are both methodologically rigorous and directly usable—whether that means guiding clinical trials, shaping state and federal policy, or helping health systems and agencies understand where to act first.
Founder
Colin Ferrel, MPH is an epidemiologist and nanomedicine researcher who founded Acropolis Analytics Research Institute to bridge rigorous bench science with decision-focused public health analytics. His work centers on modular nanotechnology, infectious disease, and chronic disease surveillance, with a particular focus on tools that can be rapidly adapted for both civilian health systems and national preparedness.
Colin holds a BS in Psychology, a BS in Medical Microbiology, and an MPH in Infectious Diseases/Zoonoses from Kansas State University, along with graduate certificates in Agricultural Biosecurity Research, Applied Statistics, and Interdisciplinary Medical Sciences. He spent five years at the Nanotechnology Innovation Center of Kansas State (NICKS) under Dr. Santosh Aryal, developing hybrid nanoparticle platforms that fuse red blood cell membranes with synthetic lipid bilayers to improve biocompatibility, targeting, and drug delivery—experience that underpins his long-term goal of creating adaptable nanoplatforms with interchangeable targeting and payload components.
In parallel with his lab work, Colin has served as an Epidemiologist at the Texas Department of State Health Services, first in Tuberculosis and Hansen’s Disease, and now within the Chronic Disease Epidemiology Branch as the Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) and Obesity Prevention Epidemiologist. He also co-chairs the Data Workgroup for the Texas Alzheimer’s Association, collaborating with public health, clinical, and academic partners to build statewide surveillance for cognitive decline and caregiver burden. Earlier in his career, he supported regional surveillance of Streptococcus pneumoniae and vaccine effectiveness at the Kansas Sedgwick County Division of Health.
Colin’s research portfolio includes peer-reviewed work in nanomedicine, magnetic nanoparticle imaging, extracellular vesicles, and population-level analyses of chronic disease and youth risk behaviors. Across these domains, he is guided by the Kansas motto “Ad Astra Per Aspera”—to the stars through difficulties—and by a conviction that advanced biomedical tools and careful epidemiology should ultimately serve patients, communities, and those working on the front lines of care and public protection.