Conference: University of Idaho Institute for Health in the Human Ecosystem Biology of Vector-borne Diseases Course

Regents Of The University Of Idaho, Moscow ID

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of the Biology of Vector-borne Diseases (BVBD) course is to train graduate students and faculty, health practitioners, government workers, and policymakers to view the biological interactions and parallels among plant, animal, and human health in complex ecosystems as a basis for novel interventions to diseases that currently burden hundreds of millions of people across the globe. Vector-borne diseases are caused by pathogens transmitted by one organism, often an insect, to another organism with disease resulting from pathogen infection. The majority of these diseases have few to no effective interventions for control. Through short presentations, case studies, hands-on modeling exercises, and group discussions of “wicked challenges”, participants learn about the biological connections across plant, animal, and human vector-borne diseases from the subcellular to the ecosystem scale. The annual BVBD course is taught by internationally recognized experts to diverse participants from across the US and around the world, connecting individuals from all impacted regions. The BVBD course is unique in its content and approach to inspire diverse stakeholders and actors to concurrently and holistically address plant, animal, and human vector-borne diseases as interconnected health challenges. Plant, animal, and human vector-borne diseases drive food insecurity across continents, devastate livestock production and cause the deaths of millions each year. These pathosystems are intricately connected in complex ecosystems that range from areas of dense urbanization, agricultural production from the pastoralist to industrial scales, managed forests and deforestation, and large regions that are increasingly subjected to extreme wildfire, drought, temperature shifts and catastrophic weather events. Within these environments, the shared biology and common drivers of plant, animal, and human vector-borne diseases enable not only pathosystem persistence, but also migration and invasion of new species of plants and animals that can fuel disease emergence and re-emergence. There is growing recognition that these connections across multiple biological scales can and should be leveraged concurrently to increase efficiency, sustainability, and efficacy of new control programs to improve health outcomes across all organisms. However, we face substantial intellectual and logistical obstacles in effecting these changes. The BVBD course delivers an integrated framework to break down intellectual and communication barriers that impede our ability to address these disease challenges in complex ecosystems. Because vector-borne diseases disproportionately burden the most under-served and under-resourced populations and regions, it is critical that BVBD participants and instructors reflect both the diversity of populations impacted by these diseases and a range of expertise and experience. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.