I am an environmental engineer working at the interface of agriculture, environmental health and infectious disease, using a planetary health approach. My ERC Starting Grant INTEGRICE investigates whether nature-based and climate-smart approaches to rice cultivation, such as modified irrigation and rice-fish co-cultivation, can control malaria and schistosomiasis vectors while sustaining yields and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Field trials are led with agricultural scientists at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and health researchers at the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) in Tanzania.
As part of the Environmental Health Group at LSHTM, I continue to work on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), including the SaniVac trial in Mozambique, as well as a project on rainfall, WASH and schistosomiasis transmission in Madagascar.
I hold a PhD from Imperial College London on water treatment against schistosome cercariae, an MSc in Environmental Engineering (Imperial) and a BEng in Agricultural Engineering (McGill). I am a Deputy Director of the LSHTM Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health.
PhD opportunities: I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students interested in rice systems, vector-borne disease and planetary health. Possible areas include mosquito and snail ecology, biodiversity, AI tools for larval surveillance, nutrition and food security, and farmer perspectives on interventions.
Affiliations
Centres
Teaching
At LSHTM, I am a module organiser for the WASH and Health module, and lecture on the MSc in Climate Change and Planetary Health, Diploma in Tropical Nursing (DTN) and Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene (DTMH) and others. I also give a number of guest lectures on WASH and health, including at Imperial College London.
I supervise six PhD students, focusing on research in schistosomiasis, WASH, malnutrition, and climate change.
Research
My main research interest is the intersection of agriculture, climate and vector-borne disease, taking a planetary health approach. I am particularly focused on nature-based and climate-smart solutions for vector control in rice-growing systems, where malaria and schistosomiasis transmission overlaps with efforts to intensify food production and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. More broadly, I am interested in how water management and agricultural practices shape infectious disease risk, in both high- and low-income contexts.
Selected Publications
