Completed
An emerging body of research details how environmental stressors can influence susceptibility to disease. On June 8-9, this workshop will take a population-level look and collaborative approach to this complex relationship to inform public health decision making during outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics.
Specifically, workshop participants will investigate how emerging environmental exposure assessment tools could help identify and monitor critical pathways for exposure to infectious agents, and how recent advances in climate and environmental health modeling techniques could be applied to predict transmission dynamics and provide early warning of emerging infectious disease outbreaks.
Featured publication
Workshop_in_brief
·2021
Pathogens are the cause of infectious diseases, but the environment can play an important role in influencing the conditions under which pathogens spread and cause harm. Understanding the complex interplay among people, pathogens, and the environment - broadly encompassing the chemical, biological,...
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Description
An ad hoc planning committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will organize and convene a workshop to explore how environmental health tools, technologies, and methodologies can be leveraged to inform real-time public health decision making about infectious disease outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics. The workshop may feature several case studies of infectious disease outbreaks for which spread and exposure is mediated, in part, by environmental pollution and conditions, through the following questions:
1) How can advances in environmental exposure assessment be applied to identify, predict, or monitor critical pathways by which humans are exposed to infectious agents?
2) How can recent advances in climate and environmental health modeling techniques be applied to better understand the biology of pathogens, vectors, and hosts; predict transmission dynamics; and provide early warning of emerging infectious diseases?
3) How can environmental pollutants exposure models and data integration approaches be leveraged to predict population vulnerability/risk to infection?
4) How sensitive is the initial emergence of infectious disease outbreaks to variations in environmental conditions?
The presentations and discussions at the workshop will be documented in a workshop proceedings, written by a designated rapporteur in accordance with institutional guidelines.
Collaborators
Sponsors
Department of Health and Human Services
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Staff
Marilee Shelton Davenport
Lead
Audrey Thevenon
Lead
Julie Liao
Lead
Andrew Bremer
Jessica De Mouy
Solmaz Spence
Major units and sub-units
Center for Health, People, and Places
Lead
Health and Medicine Division
Lead
Division on Earth and Life Studies
Lead
Board on Global Health
Lead
Board on Life Sciences
Lead
Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology
Lead
Health Care and Public Health Program Area
Lead
Biomedical and Health Sciences Program Area
Lead
Life Sciences and Biotechnology Program Area
Lead