Recap: Examining the Intersection Between Infectious Disease and Extreme Weather
Thank you to all who joined us for the Examining the Intersection Between Infectious Disease and Extreme Weather half-day online event on March 31, 2026! If you missed it, or want to revisit key moments, here’s a recap:
Infectious Disease & Extreme Weather Expert Panel:
- Kacey Ernst (University of Arizona): highlighted how extreme weather shifts disease transmission and flagging that resilience strategies like urban greening can expand mosquito habitats, highligthing the need to evaluate system impacts.
- Quinn Adams (University of Colorado Boulder): shared predictive models for vector-borne diseases, showing how weather data can give months of early warning for outbreaks like leishmaniasis and West Nile virus.
- Jeffery Shaman (Columbia University): emphasized that weather‑related health research must span from molecular to geopolitical scales and stressed the importance of strong partnerships with public health agencies.
- Alexander Travis (Cornell University): highlighted the benefits of a One Health approach, linking wildlife ecology, veterinary medicine, and epidemiology using bat spillover and tick-borne disease research as examples of prevention-focused strategies.
Infectious Disease & Extreme Weather Lightning Talks:
Our six lightning talk speakers delivered fast-paced, impactful presentations on critical topics including:
- Mapping Heat Impacts on Childhood Sepsis in Bangladesh, Monira Armin, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b)
- Modeling How Weather Drives Enteric Disease Risk in Maryland, Huimin Zhang, Morgan State University
- The Planetary Child Health & Enterics Observatory (Plan-EO), Josh Colston, University of Virginia
- Tropical Cyclones and Malaria Epidemiology in Madagascar, Benjamin Rice, Princeton University
- Modeling the Impact of Weather Extremes on Influenza Epidemics, Aleksandra Stamper, Brown University
- A Scalable Community-Driven Blueprint for Protecting Health, Basheer Waziri, Climate Resilience Action Group
Watch all lightening talks now
Workshop:
The workshop showcased the Johns Hopkins Center for Outbreak Response Innovation (CORI)’s work integrating public health messaging into weather broadcasts. Led by Dr. Eric Toner and Dr. Sutyajeet Soneja, the CDC-funded initiative delivered clear, actionable health information on seasonal infectious diseases and weather-related health risks through local meteorologists using infographics and brief talking points. The presentation also highlighted CORI’s broader efforts with health departments, including scenario-based risk assessments and outbreak preparedness projects, demonstrating how these approaches strengthened public awareness, improved risk communication, and supported proactive health responses.
