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BIDDEFORD, Maine

VP for Research Timothy Ford in JAMA article on benefits of satellite data for predicting infectious disease

University of New England Vice President for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies Timothy Ford, Ph.D., was interviewed in the Feb. 3 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) for his role in an important recent research paper, "Using Satellite Images of Environmental Changes to Predict Infectious Disease Outbreaks."

This paper appeared in the September issue of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Emerging Infectious Diseases and was highlighted in the Aug. 24, 2009 Scientific American.

The article in JAMA, entitled "Use of Earth-Observing Satellite Data Helps Predict, Prevent Disease Outbreaks," addresses the potential of earth-monitoring satellite data to help public health officials predict and perhaps minimize the effect of infectious disease outbreaks.  This information may be used to predict outbreaks of cholera, Ebola virus, hantavirus, and plague, it states.

The Feb. 3 JAMA article quotes Dr. Ford, saying: "'We need better surveillance of emerging infectious diseases, and this is one of the most promising techniques,' said Timothy E. Ford, PhD, lead author of the review and vice president for research and dean of graduate studies at the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine" 

The article further quotes Dr. Ford: "Using satellite data to predict an infectious disease outbreak requires a sophisticated understanding of the ecology of the pathogen, its vector, the susceptibility of the human hosts, and how all these factors interact."

JAMA notes, "Even a few weeks of warning could help target the efforts of public health officials to those areas that are at greatest risk and allow them to deliver public health messages that can substantially reduce the burden of disease. For example, Ford noted that advance warning of a potential cholera outbreak could allow public health officials to stress the importance of basic interventions such as filtering drinking water through sari cloth, which can remove plankton from the water and reduce mortality by 50%."

This JAMA article complements two other scholarly pieces recently co-authored by Dr. Ford related to his extensive research on issues concerning water quality and environmental health: "Temporal bacterial diversity associated with metal-contaminated river sediments," which appeared in the journal Ecotoxicology, published in February  2010 (vol 19, number 2), and "Control of waterborne disease in developing countries" in the book Environmental Microbiology (Wiley 2009, book chapter).  Also, a special edition of the journal Ecotoxicology (2009), co-edited by Ford, is focused on the Yangtze River, PR China.

Dr. Ford established UNE's four Centers of Excellence for Research and Scholarship, including the centers in Neuroscience, Land-Sea Interactions, Global Humanities, and Community and Public Health. 

More on Dr. Ford and UNE's research mission.

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.