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 Human and Planetary Health Initiative, 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 

Desiree LaBeaud, Professor of Pediatrics (Infectious Diseases) 

Rodolfo Dirzo, Associate Dean, Professor of Earth System Science, Professor of Biology

Lisa Mandle, Lead Scientist of the Natural Capital Project

Caroline Glidden, Senior Scientist

Andrew Chamberlin, Research Professional 

Allison Phillips, Managing Director, Human and Planetary Health

See members of the broader DECO community here.

Research Themes

DECO is an interdisciplinary program focused on five overarching research themes:

• Biodiversity Loss and Zoonotic Disease
• Land Use, Climate Change, and Vector-Borne Disease
• Parasitic Disease, Infrastructure, and Poverty
• Pathogens at the Wildlife-Human Interface
• Nature-based Solutions for Health

DECO Research Projects

DECO's three 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 trans-disciplinary 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, Indigenous Peoples, 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.

_{Image credit: Anthony Ochieng / Climate Visuals Countdown}