Public Health

My research interests lie in the relationships between societies and the environment and how each shape the other. My research focuses on the socioeconomic production of health and disease and how environmental health issues are contested by scientists, regulators, and citizens. My research projects tend to focus on the environmental and public health impacts of technological disasters and the individual and community efforts at recovery.

My primary environmental research interests encompass how anthropogenic and natural changes to the environment influence the ecology and transmission of disease. Current projects focus specifically on malaria and dengue. We are examining the potential for dengue emergence in the U.S./ Mexico border region under current and future climatic conditions. I am also working with communities in Kenya to learn how different environments impact the use and acceptability of malaria interventions.

Mosquito borne diseases impact the lives of billions worldwide. Malaria alone infects at least 300 million people annually, resulting in one to three million deaths, mostly children. Other diseases spread by mosquitoes, such as dengue and West Nile encephalitis, continue to broaden their range. Unfortunately, traditional mosquito control methods such as insecticide treatment have become less effective as mosquitoes develop resistance to these compounds. Thus, it is critical that we develop novel means of controlling these pests. Towards this goal, Michael Riehle's lab is attempting to better understand the mosquito’s physiology and use this knowledge to reduce the mosquito’s ability to transmit disease.

Dr. Sherrill is a Professor in the Epidemiology & Biostatistics Division and Associate Dean of Research in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona. He received his Ph.D. in Biostatistics from the University of Colorado in 1987 and has been a faculty member at the University of Arizona since 1988. He is currently director of the Arizona Clinical Research Training Program, a graduate certificate program for training physicians on the skills necessary for successful careers in clinical research. He is known internationally for his work in methodology for longitudinal analysis and has published several review articles on this topic. In addition, he teaches two advanced biostatistics courses for the Biostatistics MPH and Ph.D. graduate degree programs. His research interests include the natural history of respiratory diseases, in particular asthma, and assessment of risk factors for development of respiratory diseases. He has been an author and co-author on multiple scientific papers resulting from this research.

Alan Weisman teaches international journalism at the University of Arizona. Much of his writing is about how the environment, economics, international relations, and human society and culture intersect. He is the author of An Echo In My Blood, Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World, La Frontera: The United States Border With Mexico, and We, Immortals. His reports, set in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Antarctica, Europe, the former Soviet Union, and the Middle and Far East, have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, The New York Times Magazine, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Audubon, Mother Jones, Discover, Condé Nast Traveler, and in several anthologies. They have also aired on National Public Radio and Public Radio International. He is a senior producer for Homelands Productions. His current projects include research on the future of energy, and his forthcoming book The World Without Us, which discusses what the Earth would be like without human beings.