"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."

Albert Einstein

The most high profile conference I’ve ever been to

May 1, 2012

Misc, Science, Society, Technology

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Today is the second day of the meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)’s advisory body, the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA), in its 16th meeting (SBSTTA 16). This body makes recommendations for implementation of the Convention.

There is an estimated 600 people here, with delegates and parties representing around 150 – 190 countries, and also attendees representing international organizations like FAO, UNEP, UNDP, DIVERSITAS, and nonprofit organizations in science and technology. It’s a super diplomatic event!

This is the first event I’ve been to where more languages other than English is spoken, and interpreted, for attendees to communicate, make statements and come to decisions. Yes, they have those things you put on your ear to hear the interpretation in real time!

We are here because we have a side event tonight after the working group sessions. The topic is biodiversity and health, with an emphasis on the ecosystem or ecohealth approach to research, policy, and collaboration. We are putting on this side event with DIVERSITAS and the CBD.

The conference is being held at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal, QC, Canada. The building has many interesting art pieces and historical artifacts. Here is one photo of a cool aviation related thing in the building:

EcoHealth Art Competition

March 11, 2012

Misc

2 comments

You have 3 weeks to submit your artwork for this contest! Details below:

The academic journal EcoHealth proudly announces our 2nd Biennial International Art Competition. We would like to extend an open invitation to students, graphic artists, and any other interested individuals to participate. Artwork should exemplify the IAEH mission: To strive for sustainable health of people, wildlife, and ecosystems by promoting discovery, understanding, and transdisciplinarity.

The top nominees will be displayed during the biennial EcoHealth 2012 conference in Kunming, China from October 15-18, 2012. The winning artwork will be decided during this event, which will include $1,000 for first prize, $500 and $250 for 2nd and 3rd, and one-year subscriptions to the print-version of the journal EcoHealth. Artwork will be judged upon its relevance to the mission of our organization and winners will have a chance to be featured on the cover of an upcoming issue of EcoHealth.

For full details go to this webpage, and this page to see past winners (first prize was on the cover of Volume 7 Issue 3!

Internships in environmental economics and health

September 29, 2011

Misc

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EcoHealth Alliance is looking for 2 people who are interested in environmental economics and health to intern at our offices in NYC for 2 or more months, at least 2 days per week. This is an opportunity to work with our experts on issues such as economics of emerging diseases or of disease in wildlife trade.

Just to give you an idea of what we work on, projects range from wildlife health surveillance to disease ecology of specific pathogens to predicting disease hotspots, to estimation of wildlife trade impacts on human and animal health. I’ve also written in the past about a graduate training and research experience program focused on infectious diseases that is currently entering its second year. We’ve also been involved in conservation work and human health surveillance in developing countries.

If you’re interested, please email your Statement of Interest (maximum 1 page; indicate availability and current location) and CV as a PDF file to intern@ecohealthalliance.org with “Health and Economics Internship” in the subject line.

You can also download and distribute the PDF flyer.

Migrating birds spreading a protozoal disease!

September 22, 2011

News, Science

4 comments

You may have heard about avian flu, and how migratory birds may be spreading the virus around and potentially allowing for new strains to emerge, but you may not have heard about birds carrying disease causing protozoans.

In this peer-reviewed journal article published by EcoHealth, researchers are able to connect the migration of birds through Europe to the emergence of Trichomonosis in several places, such as southern Fennoscandia. This will be the first time it has been documented that birds are transporting a protozoal disease across regions through migratory patterns!

Read more about it at the EcoHealth Alliance website or at BBC or the Independent.

EcoHealthNet: program for graduate students interested in infectious disease research

July 7, 2011

Science, Society

1 comment

EcoHealthNet is an awesome program for anyone who is interested in learning more skills to use in the infectious disease research field, or to get involved with some super interesting projects around the work. I was lucky enough to become involved with planning for this program through work, and I also got to participate in our workshop in June (which was held at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, MD)!

This is the group that was at the workshop, including student participants from the Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, Ethiopia, Peru, Spain, USA, Vietnam, as well as lecturers from Johns Hopkins, Harvard, University of Wisconsin, and EcoHealth Alliance (where I work!).

So what does infectious disease research mean? This is a cutting-edge field that brings together ecologists, veterinarians, geographers, medical professionals, policy makers, and more. Participants at the workshop learned about disease mapping/spatial analysis and mathematical disease modeling, and people who went on the research exchange contributed to projects like Nipah virus surveillance in Bangladesh to developing primers for avian influenza viruses in China to wildlife surveillance in Brazil to White Nose Syndrome in the United States

The next opportunity to apply for EcoHealthNet 2012 will be this fall. Applications will be accepted starting in October 2011! Check out the website here: http:// www.ecohealthalliance.org/health/29-ecohealthnet