Dr Alex Bowmer
PhD MA PGDip BA
Honorary Research Fellow
Research Fellow of Medical Anthropology in Public & Veterinary Public Health
I am a OneHealth/Veterinary Public Health specialist and Medical Anthropologist. My ongoing research explores the influence of local knowledge on health seeking behaviours and vaccine uptake, understanding the risks posed to public and animal health surrounding the collection, scavenging and consumption of ‘wildmeat’ in Uganda and DRC, and developing novel community-based disease surveillance systems. I also assist with clinical trial design for novel OneHealth vaccines, such as those for Rift Valley Fever (RVF), work alongside the United Nations (UN) in science communication for COVID-19 vaccine uptake, and advice on multiple projects regarding human/wildlife conflict.
Affiliations
Teaching
I currently teach on the Medical Anthropology and Public Health module and supervise a number of postgraduate students.
Research
I am a Research Fellow, Case Study Lead and Project Manager on the Anthropological Exploration of Facilitators and Barriers to Vaccine Deployment and Administration During Disease Outbreaks (AViD) Project funded by NIHR, based in rural Uganda. My research explores the influence of local knowledge on health seeking behaviours and vaccine uptake, whether negative experiences with livestock vaccination programmes influences attitudes towards, and engagement with, human vaccination campaigns, and determining the acceptibility of novel OneHealth vaccines prior to phase II/III clinical trials.
More recently I have become a Co-Investigator/Research Fellow on the Building Trust and Community Ownership of Ebola Awareness and Community Engagement in the DRC & Uganda project, funded by the CDC and UNICEF. My research focuses on the movement of 'wildmeat' products between the DRC/Uganda border, to establish the risks posed to public health through the scavenging, collection and consumption of wild animals, with a specific focus on Ebola/Zoonotic diseases.
