Download Texas State research addresses diverse impacts of the environment

Texas State research addresses diverse
impacts of the environment on health
One Health paradigm and
research at Texas State
Recognizing that human health, animal health, and
ecosystem health are inextricably linked, One Health seeks
to promote, improve, and defend the health and well-being
of all species by enhancing cooperation and collaboration
between physicians, veterinarians, other scientific health
and environmental professionals and by promoting
strengths in leadership and management to achieve these
goals. By its own nature this concept requires
interdisciplinary research across several fields. Three
examples of Texas State University laboratories that
embody this paradigm are presented here.
Research topics at Dr. Rohde’s laboratory include: Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs),
especially MRSA; Rabies; Public health and clinical microbiology; Diabetes; Hematology;
Immunohematology (blood bank); Clinical Chemistry; and, Medical Laboratory diagnostics,
including education.
Sample publications
• Pérez, E., Uyan, B., Rohde, R.E., Wehbe-Janek, H., Hochhalter, A.K., & Fenton, S.H.
Assessing Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections Prevention Interventions in
Intensive Care Units: A Discrete Event Simulation Study (MDM-15-226). IIE Transactions
on Healthcare Systems Engineering, 2017 (In Press)
• Rohde, R.E., Felker, M., Regan, J. et al. Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI): The Perfect
Storm has Arrived! Invited Focus Series. Clin Lab Sci Winter 2016;29(1):28-31.
• Griffith, James T. and Rohde, R.E. Ebola: Implications for the Clinical Laboratory. December
2014; Clin Lab Sci :1-6.
• Bonny Mayes, MA; Pamela J. Wilson, MEd; Ernest H. Oertli, DVM, PhD, DACVPM; Patrick R.
Hunt, BS; Rodney E. Rohde, PhD, MS. Epidemiology of rabies in bats in Texas, 20012010. J Am Vet Med Assoc 2013;243:1129–1137.
Dr. Rodney Rohde
Sample grants
2015 – 2016, Co-PI, R.E. Rohde (CLS), Texas State MIRG, Examination of Upper Threshold
Events on the Necrobiome associated with Human Decomposition in a Sub tropic Ecosystem,
PI Dr. Danny Wescott, FARF and Co-PI Dr. Ken Mix, Agriculture. Amount: $25,000.00
Dr. F. Benjamin Zhan
Dr. Benjamin Zhan’s group employs a geospatial data science approach to: (1) examine how
adverse environmental conditions may impact human health, and (2) develop spatially informed
strategy to reduce environmental health disparities.
Sample publications
• Brender, JD; Shinde, MU; Zhan, FB; Gong, X; Langlois, PH. 2014. Maternal Residential
Proximity to Chlorinated Solvent Emissions and Birth Defects in Offspring: A CaseControl Study. Environmental Health 13: 96
• Zhang, C; Yang, J; Zhan, FB; Gong, X; Brender, JD; Langlois, PH; Barlowe, S; Zhao, Y.
2016. A Visual Analytics Approach to Identifying Risk Factors for Birth Defects in High
Dimensional Environmental Health Data. In Proceedings of IEEE PacificVis 2016,
Taipei, Taiwan, April 19–22, 2016
Grants
•Air Pollution-Exposure-Health Effect Indicators: Mining Massive Geographically-Referenced
Environmental Health Data to Identify Risk Factors for Birth Defects (2011-2015), Funded by the
United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Science To Achieve Results (STAR)
Program (PI: F. Benjamin Zhan; Co-PIs: Jean D. Brender, Jing Yang, and Peter H. Langlois)
http://onehealth.grforum.org/about/about-one-health/
Funding sources for current
and past projects at Texas State
The research at the Disease Ecology laboratory concentrates on the ecological interactions of
the host pathogen interface and mechanistics of zoonotic disease transmission. Currently,
my team is addressing the ecology of hantaviruses, tripanosomes, Borrelia spp. and
Leptospira.
Dr. Ivan Castro-Arellano
Sample publications
• Aleman A., et al. 2017. Prevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi, the Causal Agent of Chagas
Disease, in Texas Rodent Populations. EcoHealth. doi: 10.1007/s10393-017-1205-5
• Feria-Arroyo, T. P., et al. 2014. Implications of climate change on the distribution of the
tick vector Ixodes scapularis and risk for Lyme disease in the Texas-Mexico
transboundary region. Parasites and Vectors 7:199. doi:10.1186/1756-3305-7-199
• Suzán, G., et al. 2015. Metacommunity and phylogenetic structure determine wildlife and
zoonotic infectious disease patterns in time and space. Ecology and Evolution, 5:865873.
Grants
• 2015-2017 ($386,463) NIH R21 (PA13-303). Population genetic structure of Ixodes
scapularis and disease transmission.
• 2014-2015 ($101,793) USDA-ARS. Sub award project: Possible role of invasive
Herpestes javanicus in sustaining cattle fever tick populations in Puerto Rico.