Lecturer in Ecological Health
Grantham Institute and School of Public Health, Imperial College London [email protected] +44 758 677 9628 I'm an ecologist with interests that fall at the interface between environmental, animal and human health. My research generally focusses on looking at the ways in which environmental factors combine with social factors to mediate infectious disease risks in wildlife and people, and how infectious diseases impact or threaten biodiversity. Lately I've been working on the biogeography of human infectious diseases, snake bite ecology, infectious disease emergence processes, the impact of land-use change on infectious diseases, whether biodiversity inherently mediates infectious diseases, infectious disease risks associated with food production systems and a few other things. |
Dr Gerardo MartinPost-doc
Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Imperial College London [email protected] My adventure in disease ecology started when I joined Vet school at the Universidad de La Salle Bajio, in Leon, Mexico. Not regretfully I missed several subjects to play guitar, hence I had to do a Masters by research in Conservation Biology at the Instituto de Ecologia A. C. to cover up for my artistic endeavours. I chose the INECOL because they have an absolutely beautiful botanical garden next to the student cubicles, which suited perfectly my intent to study Leptospirosis dynamics in the endangered Perote ground squirrel. Worried by extinction I decided to do a PhD, where I would try and save the world’s frogs from chytridiomycosis, therefore I graduated by studying the spillover dynamics of Hendra virus in flying fox bats in Australia at James Cook University. I’d like to think that what I’ve done so far has helped to alleviate the tensions between people and flying foxes. Currently, loyal to my eclectic tradition, I’m working on a snakebite modelling project at Imperial College. Other smaller project I’m currently working on involve modelling Bd in Peru and shark movement in the Great Barrier Reef. |
Sally MusunguPhD candidate (2018 - current)
Centre for Environmental Policy and School of Public Health, Imperial College London [email protected] Climate change is an important driver of crop and pest population dynamics, especially in the tropics. Climate change is likely to affect the viability of populations and the distribution of banana (Musa acuminate) as well as one of its major pests, the banana weevil (Cosmopolites sordidus). Using East Africa as a case study, I am looking into climate change induced impacts on C. sordidus and its potential impacts on the production and distribution of the highland banana (Matoke). This information will be applicable in designing measures for coping with or mitigating impacts of climate change on farmers’ livelihoods (household nutrition security, income and ecosystem health). Bio-economic models of climate change-pest-crop interactions will be some of the potential outcomes of my Ph.D. which will contribute to evidence required by policy makers to develop appropriate mitigation strategies. |
Hiral ShahPhD candidate (2016 - current)
School of Public Health and Grantham Institute, Imperial College London [email protected] In recent times urbanisation and expansion of human habitats has resulted in intensification of the human-animal-environment interface which has led to an increase in emerging infectious diseases. At the same time, many environmental threats to health also threaten natural resources, including biodiversity and the provision of essential ecosystem services, which may further undermine health and present barriers for sustainable development. Strategic environmental management is thus uniquely placed to deliver co-benefits across these multiple sectors (e.g. human health and biodiversity). The aim of my PhD is to begin to decompose this co-benefit landscape, with a particular initial focus on infectious disease risks and biodiversity loss in developing rural-urban systems in Asia experiencing rapid global environmental and social change. Results from my PhD will identify a subset of available environmental interventions with the greatest potential to deliver co-benefits to health and biodiversity in the region. |
Paul HuxleyPhD candidate (2016 - current)
School of Public Health, Dept of Life Sciences, and Grantham Institute, Imperial College London [email protected] My PhD focuses on the potential impacts of environmental change on vector-borne disease dynamics. Traditional epidemiological models tend not to account for vector biology or ecology. My work at Imperial addresses this by investigating functional vector traits, and establishing the extent to which individual variation within populations is influenced by environmental factors, such as changes in temperature and diet. Trait variation may play an important role in determining the ability of mosquitoes, for example, to transmit potentially fatal diseases to humans and wildlife. Prior to Imperial, I investigated the range expansion of a non-native bamboo in Japanese socio-ecological systems, known as Satoyama. These research areas are brought together by an overarching interest in contributing to our understanding of global environmental change, and its impacts on human and ecosystem health. I’m excited to collaborate with my peers, experienced academics and staff within the Grantham Institute, Public Health and Life Sciences in order to meet this challenge. |
Sonia TiedtPhD candidate (2015 - current)
School of Public Health and Grantham Institute, Imperial College London [email protected] My research explores the patterns and processes governing the distribution of infectious diseases globally. Despite their serious threat to global health and biodiversity, these remain surprisingly poorly understood. I am particularly interested in the origins of infectious diseases, the mechanisms driving their emergence in novel locations, and the effect global change will have on these patterns. Given the close relationship between human diseases and global physical and ecological systems, my PhD aims to tackle these questions by adapting biogeographic methods from ecology. Potential applications range from outbreak investigation, pathogen discovery efforts, risk assessments and disease surveillance to disease management & mitigation. |
Pria GhoshPhD candidate (2015 - current)
School of Public Health and Grantham Institute, Imperial College London [email protected] I’m researching the ecological interactions of two lineages of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), a fungal pathogen of amphibians, in South Africa. Bd has been described as causing ‘the most devastating loss of vertebrate biodiversity due to disease in recorded history’ but only one of it’s five phenotypically and phylogenetically distinct lineages, BdGPL, is behind all the known mass amphibian mortalities to date. In South Africa, BdGPL and the African endemic lineage BdCape appear to be coexisting without causing mass declines. My interest is in establishing whether these two lineages are genuinely co-existing or are competing with each other with a view to increasing our understanding of how the movement of pathogen strains around the world could impact disease epidemiology and host survival. |
Elizabeth LohPhD candidate (Ecology and Biodiversity Managment)
Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent and EcoHealth Alliance [email protected] My research focuses on how ecological communities respond to land-use change and changes in biodiversity, with particular focus on disease ecology and conservation. Specifically I am researching the effects of habitat fragmentation on bat and viral diversity in the interior Atlantic Forest, Brazil. I am also analyzing patterns of human-animal contact that may influence human risk of exposure to infectious diseases across fragmented landscapes. My ultimate goal is to integrate empirical data with mathematical models to better understand and predict how land-use change influences disease dynamics and human risk. |
Rikki GumbsPhD candidate (2016 - current)
Life Sciences and ZSL [email protected] My research focuses on the integration of evolutionary history, trait diversity and extinction risk to inform conservation priority setting. I use a combination of phylogenetic and spatial approaches to identify priority species and regions for conservation to maximise the amount of phylogenetic and trait diversity maintained into the future. The majority of my work focuses on reptiles, and I am particularly interested in the relationship between venomous snakes and humans. To this end, I am mapping the distribution of medically important venomous snakes to inform applied work to reduce the burden of snakebite. |
Dr Mike BlackettMSc candidate (2018) in Epidemiology
Imperial College London I started my research career in marine science, completing a bachelors in marine biology and then a PhD in marine ecology. Since then I have become interested in the link between the environment and human health. I am particularly interested in infectious disease ecology and understanding how environmental changes influence the distribution of important disease vectors. I am currently pursuing a Master of Epidemiology here at Imperial. I have joined the Murray Lab to complete my dissertation, where I will be exploring the use of latent Gaussian models to map the global habitat suitability of the important Dengue vector, Aedes aegypti. Habitat suitability maps can be combined with a Dengue case report database to provide disease risk maps, an important tool for public health response and planning. I enjoy using statistical and numerical tools to analyse and visualise spatio-temporal data to help answer interesting ecological and public health questions. |
Amy LuckMPH candidate (2018) in Global Health, School of Public Health,
Imperial College London [email protected] My project will look at human-induced land use and its potential health impacts and infectious disease risk. Understanding these associations is vital to inform land use and health policies. Having studied Zoology with Biology at the University of Birmingham and spending my dissertation researching the impact of climate on bumblebee nesting patterns, I am incredibly interested in global environmental and climate change and the anthropogenic impact on wildlife and the environment. Since graduating I have worked in various research and communications roles and spent 2 years at the Wellcome Trust working on vaccines, ethics and policy and since have grown incredibly interested in one-health and the security threat of zoonotic epidemics. |
Stephanie ThamMSc candidate (2017) in Environmental Technology (Health and the Global Environment option)
Imperial College London Steph graduated from Imperial College London with a MSc in Environmental Technology (Health & Global Environment Option). With a background in Occupational Therapy/ Ergonomics, Stephanie has combined her clinical knowledge of health and human factors with her passions for sustainability and protecting the environment. Her dissertation on indoor overheating and health enhanced her interests in built environments that are resilient to climate change. She is currently working as a Policy Officer for the Victorian Government in Australia, to improve energy efficiency standards in the residential property sector, in the transition towards a low carbon economy. |
Arnaud CartignyMSc candidate (2017) in Sustainable Development
SOAS, University of London [email protected] I am a qualified engineer with a Master’s degree in management and have worked in the telecommunications industry for more than ten years in various companies and positions. I have nonetheless decided to make a career change to align my values with my professional goals and study an area of personal interest: climate and environmental change and their impact on development and particularly human health. As part of the MSc in Sustainable Development at SOAS, University of London, my research will focus on optimizing pathogen discovery in emerging infectious disease surveillance programmes in low- and middle-income countries through the lens of biogeographic stratification. |
Adriana Guzman HolstMPH (2016) Global Health
Research Assistant (2016) Grantham Institute, Imperial College London [email protected] I recently finalised the Masters of Public Health at Imperial and previously completed a BSc in Biology and Environmental Science & Policy at Duke University. I am fascinated by the interconnectivity between human health and climate change research. During the next months, I will be working with Kris on a project aiming to develop spatially-explicit predictions for snake-bite risk under future climate scenarios in South Asia. |
Julie WendlingMSc candidate (2016) Control of Infectious Diseases
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine [email protected] My background is in nursing and public health, and I have developed a strong interest in the association between environmental changes and human health. Therefore, I'm planning to conduct a systematic review quantifying the impact of various anthropogenic land-use modifications on the emergence of infectious diseases, in order to formulate policy recommendations. |
Saoirse FloodMSc candidate (2016) in Environmental Technology (Global Health and the Environment Option)
Imperial College London [email protected] I have always had a strong interest in environment issues related to health and conservation. I am therefore planning to do my thesis on how quantifying and alleviating ecosystem disservices such as snake bite in Sri Lanka can produce co-benefits for health and conservation. I plan on quantifying the economic cost of snake bite while at the same time showing how important it is to conserve and work with nature as we rely on it for vital ecosystem services. I hope that my results will incentivise stakeholders, health professionals and conservationists to work together. |
Rita SampainhoMSc candidate (2016) in Environmental Technology (Global Health and the Environment Option)
Imperial College Londo [email protected] I have a background in analytical chemistry and I am currently undertaking an MSc in Environmental Technology, with a specialisation in Health and Global Environment at Imperial College London. My most relevant working experience includes working as a carbon analyst at Environmental Investment Organisation and as a research technician at the Institute for the Environment, Health and Societies at Brunel University where I undertook research on chemicals in the environment and their effect on human health and biodiversity. I am interested in various disciplines within the environmental arena, but I am particularly interested in understanding the health impacts of environmental factors in the Global South, and in the promotion of health through the implementation of intervention programmes and improved public policy. I am currently writing a thesis about the impacts of climate change on sanitation related health risks in deprived neighborhoods in Maputo, Mozambique, through which I hope to contribute to the development of climate change adaptation policies and to promote health equity for all people. |
Rory WilsonUROP 2018
Department of Medicine, Imperial College London [email protected] I am a fourth year medical student, having just completed an intercalated BSc in Global Health. I am strongly interested in the field of planetary health. |
Hank (Hanxiang) CongUROP 2016
Physics Departement, Imperial College London [email protected] I am a third year physics students and plan to pursue the MSc in Environmental Technology (Health and the Global Environment option). Currently i’m doing a UROP (undergraduate research opportunity) at the Grantham Institute with the research of making a 'evidence map’ of green space. It can help urban planning, and also help manage environmental pressures related to health issues. |