Uriel KitronEmeritus Professor of Environmental Sciences

• BSc, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
• PhD, Degree, University of California, Santa Barbara
• MPH, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

My research and teaching programs center around the eco-epidemiology of infectious diseases, with an emphasis on tropical and emerging diseases and environmental risk factors, and on an interdisciplinary approach to the challenges of the Anthropocene. In our global health and development research, we emphasize anthropogenic changes, including issues of climate, urbanization, agricultural practices and conservation.

For diseases such as Dengue, Zika, Malaria, Schistosomiasis, Chagas disease and West Nile virus we have been studying the transmission dynamics and ecology of the insect vectors and the mammalian and avian reservoir hosts, incorporating a strong field component (trapping vertebrates, collecting insects, identifying environmental features), spatial analysis, and laboratory work.

We apply tools such as geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing to gather and manage environmental data that can explain the spatial distribution of disease, vectors and risk factors. Following quantitative spatial analysis, maps and models are produced to target further research efforts, as well as in support of surveillance and control efforts by public health agencies.

Current research efforts include studies of dengue, Zika and Chikungunya in in Brazil, of the health impacts of natural disasters in Mozambique, Peru and Australia, and of West Nile virus and eco-epidemiology of disease emergence in urban areas in the U.S., and building a Center for the study of Environment and Society in the Italian Apennines.