Disease Ecology in a Changing World
As Earth’s population grows, scientists are continually discovering new connections between the environment and human health. The Disease Ecology in a Changing World (DECO) program strategizes solutions to support nature, communities, health, and climate change mitigation.
DECO researchers are working to understand those connections in collaboration with local communities. Together, we are pursuing nature-based solutions for health and the environment, leveraging the combined expertise of scholars at the Stanford’s Center for Innovation in Global Health, School of Medicine, Doerr School of Sustainability, Woods Institute for the Environment, and partners at other institutions. As a core focus area of the Center for Human and Planetary Health, we study the ecological, environmental, and socioeconomic drivers of diseases transmitted through the environment, including vector-borne, parasitic, zoonotic, and wildlife diseases. We investigate where those diseases occur, how they spread, and the role of climate and land-use change in both. With that knowledge, we develop win-win ecological solutions to control disease transmission, improve human health, and protect the health of the environment that underpins it.
DECO builds on the success of earlier disease ecology collaborations at Stanford that explored ecological solutions and strategies for meeting the rapidly evolving environmental and socio-economic needs of our changing world. Today we’re expanding the scale, concepts, and implementation of several ecohealth solutions designed and catalyzed by the Program for Disease Ecology, Health and the Environment (DEHE). Learn more about our roots in the Program on Disease Ecology, Health and the Environment at: ecohealthsolutions.stanford.edu.
People
DECO Leads
DECO Team
Talya Shragai, Research and Program Manager, Disease Ecology in a Changing World
Desiree LaBeaud, Professor of Pediatrics (Infectious Diseases)
Caroline Glidden, Senior Scientist, Mordecai Lab
Andrew Chamberlin, Research Professional
Allison Phillips, Managing Director, Center for Human and Planetary Health
Amelia Meyer, Research Program Manager, LaBeaud Lab
Kayla Kauffman, Postdoctoral Fellow, De Leo Lab
See members of the broader DECO community here.
DECO Research Projects
DECO's four cornerstone projects focus on specific geographic areas, impacted communities, environmental and socio-economic drivers, and ecological solutions. These projects span multiple research groups and partners, including health authorities in Costa Rica, Kenya, and Senegal, and researchers at the Natural Capital Project, the University of Costa Rica, the Osa & Golfito Initiative, HERI-Kenya, the Global Schistosomiasis Alliance, and the World Bank.
DECO Programmatic Priorities
- Research: Supporting cornerstone projects in basic and applied science aimed at understanding the multifaceted links between biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human, animal, and plant health, as well as discovering ecological levers for health.
- Capacity building: Building a cohort of faculty, students, and researchers engaged in action-oriented research at the nexus of environmental change, disease ecology, ecosystem health, and human wellbeing.
- Education: Developing interdisciplinary curricula engaging students at the undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate levels.
- Global and local engagement: Catalyzing engagement with ongoing initiatives in habitat restoration, climate adaptation, sustainable agriculture, disease prevention, and pollution control. We work collaboratively with governments, multilateral agencies, development banks, non-governmental organizations, and local communities.
- Outreach: Crafting resources, such as targeted educational materials, policy recommendations, interactive online tools, and communication campaigns highlighting the health impacts of biodiversity loss and global change, and providing evidence-informed solutions for a healthy planet that supports healthy people.
DECO Events
Stanford and the Disease Ecology in a Changing World Program were pleased to host the 2024 Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) Conference.
DECO partners with Stanford’s ECO/EVO lunch seminar series to host disease ecology speakers. These talks are open to the broader Stanford disease ecology community. Past events include:
- Dr. Joelle Rosser: Trash Talk: Could drones & AI really help tackle mosquito-borne diseases?
- Dr. Jade Benjamin-Chung: Predicting where malaria interventions work: leveraging environmental heterogeneity to inform local decision-making
- Dr. Stephen Felt: 'One Medicine' Research: A Veterinary Perspective from 'The Farm'
Image credit: Anthony Ochieng / Climate Visuals Countdown
Related News
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New research traces a direct line from warmer, wetter weather to a mosquito-borne disease epidemic. The findings could help inform policy and interventions to blunt such outbreaks.
