Ongoing Research Projects

Thanks for your interest in our project! We've concluded our data collection. In the meantime, please see the link below for more information.

For more information on the project:

https://www.targetedsurveillance.com/

We are using integrated socio-ecological methods to measure risk patterns of tick encounters in recreational and residential habitat, as well as more accurately capture travel history and travel-associated exposure to ticks.

By studying how people shape the urban environment in ways that expose them to vectors and pathogens, we explore how the ecological and social factors intersect to influence human health.

Tick-borne hazards are increasing in urban landscapes, yet critical gaps remain in understanding human tick-borne disease risk across urbanization gradients. With the loss of natural habitat globally, urban greenspaces can provide a critical habitat for wildlife which has varying consequences for tick-borne disease emergence. 

By analyzing historical patterns of emergence and spread of tick-borne pathogens, we gain insights into the environmental drivers and build spatial risk maps to guide prevention and intervention efforts.

By informing mathematical models with empirical data from the field and lab, we aim to understand the long-term eco-evolutionary dynamics of tick-borne pathogens.

By examining how a city varies in its composition, configuration, and level of connectivity, we examine how the built environment (and use of the built environment) contributes to different levels of risk for Aedes-transmitted diseases.