Pandemic on the Horizon? Climate Change and Infectious Disease

Dr. Steve Bennett, Lecturer, Community Health Program, Health & Human Development Department

Spring 2018

An analysis of the impact of climate change on the emergence and spread of infectious disease. From vector borne disease to water borne disease, the climate can be a major driver of disease ecology. Will there be another new pandemic simply because of the impacts of climate change? Has the epidemiology and ecology of infectious diseases already changed?

Dr. Steve Bennett’s expertise is in the epidemiology and ecology of infectious disease. His interest in infectious disease began as a Peace Corps volunteer working on public health programs in Kenya. Dr. Bennett received his Master’s in Tropical Medicine and Parasitology from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Afterward, Dr. Bennett worked in South Sudan on President Carter’s Guinea Worm Eradication Program and then returned to the States to complete his PhD in Environmental Infectious Disease at the University of Minnesota. He has taught courses in Public and Environmental Health, Global Health, Disease Ecology and Environmental Sustainability. His previous research has focused on the spread of tick borne disease in Minnesota. Currently, he is a lecturer in the Community Health Program in the Department of Health & Human Development at Western Washington University.