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Dr. Ana Bento, Assistant Professor for Cornell Public Health, ended up working on infectious diseases by accident. “I spent half my time as a PhD candidate developing mathematical models, and the other half chasing sheep up a hill on a remote Scottish island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean,” she says. What brought her to the island was her research on the short- and long-term effects of climate change on the population dynamics of wild sheep. Dr. Bento was always interested in understanding drivers of change, but it wasn’t until the final year of her PhD that infectious diseases began to pique her interest. She became fascinated by bovine tuberculosis, which not only spread within cow populations, but also between…
Dr. Alex Travis–director of Cornell Public Health and chair of the Department of Public & Ecosystem Health in the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine—explains exactly what his extended job title involves, noting that he brings being both a veterinarian and PhD scientist to discharging his duties. Joining me on “Talking Animals” to discuss bird flu and the Avian Flu Resource Center–an online portal Cornell recently launched, designed to provide timely and accurate information about bird flu, amidst ongoing rumors and misinformation—Travis describes the current strain, and why it’s become so nefarious. As part of that description, he outlines how the current flu–also known as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza…
Public health is not achieved simply by ensuring there are enough doctors to provide services in a community. To support community wellbeing, unmet social needs that prevent access to care must also be addressed. “Lack of transportation, lack of internet and computer access, high cost and limited availability of childcare, and the lack of services outside typical work hours are all barriers to care,” says Nicole Zulu, Director of Health Planning for the Human Services Coalition of Tompkins County. “This is especially true in rural areas…
Cornell researchers have developed a new vaccine platform that could provide more robust, longer-lasting protection from both COVID-19 and influenza, and broader immunity to different flu strains. In a study published Jan. 29 in Science Advances, researchers found no visible signs of illness in mouse models after vaccination with the new platform and no cellular damage to tissues. “One of the big moments was when we started achieving 100% survival and lack of clinical disease in all of the vaccinated mice following challenge with either SARS-CoV-2 or influenza virus,” said Richard Adeleke, first author and doctoral candidate in the field of immunology and infectious diseases…
The Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, in collaboration with Entrepreneurship at Cornell, hosted the ninth annual Cornell Animal Health Hackathon earlier this month, bringing together 138 students ranging from eight different Cornell colleges, forming 27 teams to tackle pressing issues in animal health. “This year’s hackathon was an incredibly successful one,” says Jorge Colón ’92, D.V.M.’95, director of veterinary business education. “The creativity and dedication demonstrated by the competing teams was truly impressive…
This fall, Cornell Public Health Assistant Professor, Dr. Charley Willison received the first-ever Emerging Health Politics Scholar Award from the Health Politics and Policy Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA). The award was developed specifically to recognize junior scholars, emerging as leaders in the field of health politics and policy based on excellence in their research, teaching, and service. “It can be risky to study something new when trying to kick off a career,” notes Dr. Willison, so recognition and support for research on new or underrepresented issues can serve an important role in driving research forward…
At Cornell University’s Wildlife Health Lab, scientists–including Jenny Bloodgood from the Department of Public & Ecosystem Health–work with New York State to test and identify cases of bird flu among animals in Central New York. USDA data shows this strain of the virus has been detected in wild birds in all 50 states. NBC News’ Anne Thompson reports.
Cornell Master of Public Health students Taylor Rijos and Anthony Un both vividly remember when Canadian wildfire smoke rolled into New York State in 2023. “That’s something my family had never experienced,” says Rijos. “Figuring out what to do when faced with a novel threat was eye-opening.” For Un, the smoke represented an even greater danger. “It was a stark reminder that the impacts of climate change are becoming more tangible,” he says. Wildfire smoke can be deadly; it contains high concentrations of particulate pollutants small enough to enter the bloodstream and affect internal organs, and is…
News and guidance on avian influenza is scattered across government and state agency websites, and rampant misinformation is spread across the internet. In response, Cornell has launched a comprehensive resource that offers a one-stop clearinghouse for the most current and trustworthy information on bird flu. A new online Avian Flu Resource Center provides reliable and accessible information for members of the general public, farmers, wildlife professionals, state and public health agency partners, and veterinarians…
Most pandemics in the past century were sparked by a pathogen jumping from animals to humans. This moment of zoonotic spillover is the focus of a multidisciplinary team of researchers led by Raina Plowright, the Rudolf J. and Katharine L. Steffen Professor in the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Public and Ecosystem Health. Their research is one of three projects that make up Cornell’s new Global Grand Challenge: The Future. The three-year challenge from Global Cornell aims to apply advances in our understanding of the social, digital and natural worlds to meet global communities’ emerging needs…
On Feb. 7, New York Governor Kathy Hochul issued an order to temporarily close live bird markets after cases of avian influenza, or bird flu, were detected in seven markets in Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx in the past week. The closures apply to all bird markets, including those that didn’t report any cases, in New York City, Westchester, Suffolk, and Nassau counties. The order requires market owners to sell or otherwise remove all live birds and conduct a thorough cleaning and disinfection of their facilities—even if bird flu wasn’t detected there. All markets must remain closed for five days after the cleaning to confirm they are free of the H5N1 bird flu virus so that the virus won’t spread again when live animals are…
Sonja Lockhart had long-standing interests in sustainable agriculture and food justice when she first came to Cornell. As an MPH student, two of Lockhart’s community-engaged projects—writing a grant proposal for Acres4Change in Baltimore, and developing an evaluation plan for Khuba International’s Quarter Acre for the People Project in Upstate New York—inspired a newfound interest in supporting Black farmers. After graduating in 2022, a job posting by Black Farmer Fund immediately caught Lockhart’s eye. Black Farmer Fund (BFF) is a nonprofit that provides grants and low interest loans, paired with tailored technical assistance, to Black farmers from Pennsylvania to Maine…