Pathogens Gone Global: Disease Ecology and Evolution in a Changing World

Human activities are impacting environmental processes at an unprecedented scale. These changes also influence the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases. This symposium will engage with the latest findings in this arena, including research on cross-species transmission of parasites, One Health, host-pathogen responses to environmental change, and predicting zoonotic disease emergence.

The symposium also marks the final year of an NSF-NIH-USDA funded Research Coordination Network (RCN) at University of Georgia on the "Macroecology of Infectious Disease." The network has involved 46 participating scientists from four countries and more than a dozen universities to examine host-pathogen distributions at large spatial and taxonomic scales (diseasemacroecology.ecology.uga.edu).

The symposium will feature a series of short talks by local and invited speakers, a debate on how best to prepare for future pandemics, and a keynote address by Prof. Jonathan Patz (University of Wisconsin).

This event is supported by the NSF, the Triangle Center for Evolutionary Medicine (TriCEM), Duke Provost's Collaboratories, and the Duke Global Health Institute. It is free and open to the public. However, registration is required for planning purposes. Visit sites.duke.edu/globalpathogens/ to register or check out the schedule.

For more information, contact Charles Nunn at clnunn@duke.edu.