I'm an ecologist with interests in global environmental change and its linkages to human, animal and ecosystem health. I investigate the relationships between environmental and social influences on health, focussing on infectious as well as non-communicable disease outcomes, disease vectors and zoonotic hosts. I often try to forecast spatial and temporal patterns of disease risk from local to global scales as a result of global change. I am co-Director of the Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health at LSHTM. I am also an “MRC Investigator” and lead of the Planetary Health cross-cutting program at the MRC Unit The Gambia @ LSHTM.
Affiliations
Department of Population Health
Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health
Centres
Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health
Teaching
I am a Module Organiser on the MSc in Climate Change and Planetary Health
Research
My research is focused on human health impacts associated with environmental change (e.g., climate change, land-use change, biodiversity loss) and the benefits to health that can be generated by implementing mutually beneficial solutions to environmental degradation. I have a broad background in ecology and epidemiology, with specific training and expertise in disease ecology, biodiversity, climate and land-use change, and sustainability science. I use mixed methods drawn from social, health and environmental sciences, including spatial and epidemiological modelling, environmental surveys and assessments, household surveys, and laboratory experiments. Currently, I'm involved in work looking at:
- the impacts of large-scale landscape restoration on human health
- climate, weather, and hydrological influences on health (e.g., heat, humidity, rainfall impacts on heat stress and infectious diseases)
- zoonotic disease, spillover, disease emergence and pandemic risks linked to land-use and climatic change
- understanding patterns of human-animal contact across land-change gradients, examining dynamics of zoonotic host-pathogen networks
- pathogen 'pollution' in wildlife
- sustainable and healthy diets, dietary diversity and food systems
- history, evolution and utility of integrated environment health sciences (OneHealth, EcoHealth, Planetary Health)
- the impacts of large-scale landscape restoration on human health
- climate, weather, and hydrological influences on health (e.g., heat, humidity, rainfall impacts on heat stress and infectious diseases)
- zoonotic disease, spillover, disease emergence and pandemic risks linked to land-use and climatic change
- understanding patterns of human-animal contact across land-change gradients, examining dynamics of zoonotic host-pathogen networks
- pathogen 'pollution' in wildlife
- sustainable and healthy diets, dietary diversity and food systems
- history, evolution and utility of integrated environment health sciences (OneHealth, EcoHealth, Planetary Health)
Research Area
Climate change
Urbanisation
AMR (Antimicrobial resistance)
GIS/Spatial analysis
Health impact analysis
Ecology, environment
Food production (agriculture)
Environmental health
Globalisation
Heat (health effects)
Planetary health
Natural disasters
Outbreaks
Zoology
Disease and Health Conditions
Zoonoses
Vector borne diseases
Emerging infectious diseases
Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)
Country
Australia
Brazil
Gambia
Thailand
Vietnam
Burkina Faso
Senegal
Tanzania
Zimbabwe
Region
Sub-Saharan Africa (all income levels)
Least developed countries: UN classification
East Asia & Pacific (all income levels)
Latin America & Caribbean (all income levels)
Selected Publications
Keep it in the ground: climate change could prompt the reemergence of zombie pathogens.
2025
BMJ (Clinical research ed.)
Socioeconomic deprivation modifies green space and mental health associations: A within person study.
2024
Environment international
The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: representation matters - Authors' reply.
2024
Lancet (London, England)
Food biodiversity and gastrointestinal cancer risk in nine European countries: Analysis within a prospective cohort study.
2024
European Journal of Cancer