UNE Planetary Health Council hosts alum Charles Lubelczyk for “Tick Talk”
In April, the UNE Planetary Health Council hosted Charles B. Lubelczyk, M.P.H., for a "Tick Talk" lecture on the Biddeford Campus. The presentation was titled “Climate Change & Tick Expansion: Why & What You Can Do." Lubelczyk is a 2013 alum of the UNE Master of Public Health Program and works as a vector ecologist for Maine Medical Center Research Institute’s Lyme & Vector-Borne Disease Laboratory.
His talk explored ecological and human-mediated drivers spurring the expansion of ticks, tying in climate change, landscape ecology and policy. He concluded by sharing individual-level action steps that audience members could take in their own lives and communities for tick management and Lyme disease prevention.
More than 70 people attended the event, including other UNE alumni and many current students. More than 260 viewers watched the livestreamed video of the presentation, including viewers from UNE’s campus in Tangier, Morocco.
The UNE Planetary Health Council was formed April 2017 after UNE joined the Harvard-led Planetary Health Alliance, an international consortium of 140+ universities, NGOs and other partners with the shared mission of advancing planetary health.
The "Tick Talk" event was sponsored by the Department of Health, Wellness and Occupational Studies; the Department of Biology, the Office of Student Affairs, the Office of Communications, the Office of Sustainability, and the Planetary Health Council.