Dr. Buchwald is an infectious disease epidemiologist with long-term interests in infection transmission, the impacts of climate change on infectious diseases, maternal-child health,  and using immunological data to inform intervention design. Her research largely focuses on the design and conduct of observational research to understand, detect, and control infectious diseases in low-resource settings.

Dr. Buchwald has expertise in the design, implementation, data collection, and data analysis for longitudinal cohort studies examining infectious disease incidence and the development of immunity. She was closely involved with SARS-CoV-2 pandemic monitoring, including developing models and metrics to advise public-policy makers, as well as developing methods to incorporate large scale behavioral, immunological, and epidemiological data into mathematical models. 

Dr. Buchwald's current research focuses on climate and health, immunological predictors of infant health, and the impact of in utero exposure to infections and severe weather on long-term child health and development.