NZ Herald covers our work on forest fragmentation and Ebola virus emergence
Forest fragmentation and Ebola virus disease outbreaks
New analyses support there being a link between forest fragmentation in Africa and Ebola virus disease outbreaks. This work was led by Cristina Rulli and published in Scientific Reports.
Undiscovered bat hosts of filoviruses
New analyses led by Barbara Han to identify undiscovered filovirus hosts, including those of Ebola virus, published in PLoS NTD.
Marsden Fast Start Grant - Unpacking Infection Spillover Dynamics $300,000
I am delighted to have been awarded this grant from the Royal Society of New Zealand. The project will involve modelling the spillover effects of infectious diseases using a mathematical model of human, livestock and gorilla interactions from Uganda.
Project Collaborators
Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH, Uganda), led by Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, will be the local collaborator. CTPH has over 10 years’ experience using Population, Health and Environment approaches to reduce threats to mountain gorillas
Jamie Lloyd-Smith (University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA, USA) has extensive experience studying ‘spillover’ dynamics at the human-animal interface.
Hayley MacGregor (University of Sussex, UK) is a human clinician and medical anthropologist with extensive experience working with communities in Africa.
NPR Interview on bats and Ebola in West Africa
I was interviewed by NPR's Morning Edition on bats and Ebola in West Africa.
Work led by my Smith Fellowship mentor Paul Cryan, USGS, on monitoring bats
Work led by my Smith Fellowship mentor Paul Cryan, USGS, on monitoring bats at wind turbines recently received substantial media interest. Examples are here, and you can watch the videos on the ScienceNews website.
NGO event hosted by AAAS
I recently spoke at an NGO event hosted by AAAS, Elizabeth R Griffin Research Foundation and other NGOs on the "Prevent Panel" regarding how conservation may help reduce spillover of infectious disease such as ebola virus from bats to humans. This meeting was in association with the US White House's Global Health Security Agenda Meeting, hosted in the White House the next day.
Local Press Interviews
Local New Zealand Press Interviews about the spread of the Ebola virus.
New Zealand Royal Society Science Media Centre on Ebola
Click on the image below to see a full list of my publications and collaborators