ECo Talks: Effects and implications of environmental, geographic, socio- economic, and demographic factors on human and avian malaria with Oswaldo Villena
Earth Commons postdoctoral fellow, Oswaldo Villena, will present his talk, “Effects and implications of environmental, geographic, socio-economic, and demographic factors on human and avian malaria,” as part of the new ECo Talks series produced by the Earth Commons.
About the Speaker: Dr. Villena is a postdoctoral fellow at The Earth Commons at Georgetown University. Oswaldo Villena’s research interest is to assess ecological hypothesis with a data driven approach, confronting models with data and using statistics for validation, with a focus on epidemiology and public health. Villena is particularly interested in the effects of climate change on vector-borne diseases in humans, birds, and staple crops as well as in the distribution of disease vectors. He will address questions that are relevant to a range of disciplines including population and community ecology, thermal biology of vector-borne diseases, predictive modeling, and public health.
About the Talk: In this seminar, three case studies will be presented: (1) The influence of environmental and geographic factors on the occurrence and abundance of the southern house mosquito (Culex quinquefasciatus) and implications on the declining population of native birds in Hawaii (2) how temperature impacts the environmental suitability for human malaria transmission and (3) how environmental, geographic, socio-demographic, and epidemiological indicators influence malaria prevalence, with the
purpose of understanding how changes in environmental, geographic, socio- economic, demographic, and epidemiological factors impact the transmission dynamics of vector-borne diseases and the spatial distribution of disease vectors.
Event Details: Light refreshments will be provided. Free and open to all. No RSVP required.
About the Series: ECo Talks are presented by the Earth Commons Fridays 11:30 am – 12:30 pm in Arrupe Hall Conference Room. ECo Talks features scholars, leaders and innovators sparking conversation, sharing knowledge, and spurring change. Learn more about the series >>
