When
Date: Wednesday, October 11th, 2017
Speaker: Kacey Ernst. Associate Professor, College of Public Health, University of Arizona
Time: 3:00-4:00PM
Location: ENR2 S107
Bio:
Kacey Ernst is an Associate Professor and Program Director of Undergraduate Programs at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona. Her work examines the role of weather, climate and climate change in the emergence of infectious diseases, specifically vector-borne diseases including malaria, Zika, and dengue. She works within a highly interdisciplinary team of climatologists, anthropologists, entomologists, and geographers to develop models that predict both the seasonal and long-term trends of Aedes-borne viruses. In addition, to developing a better understanding of how vector-borne disease risk may change in the future, she seeks to engage communities in developing capacity-building and resilience strategies to reduce their risk. This includes the assessment of human uptake and maintenance of intervention strategies, and the development of community engagement tools. She has conducted field work in Ghana, Kenya, Indonesia, Mexico, and Jamaica to better understand the current and future response capacity of predominantly rural populations. Over the past two years, she has led a team of scientist and public health stakeholders to develop Kidenga, a mobile community-based surveillance application and educational tool to enhance the detection and awareness of vector-borne disease transmission. She holds a B.A. in Chemistry and Biology from Lawrence University and an M.P.H. and Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of Michigan.
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