Research Theme
I am an ecologist and epidemiologist interested in the interface of ecosystem service provisioning and human health, specifically in the context of global trends in biodiversity loss and ecosystem transformation. As an Environmental Fellow at the Harvard University Center for the Environment, I work with Walter Willett at the Harvard School of Public Health and Sam Myers at Harvard Medical School to study the human health impacts of ecosystem services. Since 1999, I have been conducting ecological and public health research in Madagascar and am fluent in several local dialects of Malagasy.
Most broadly, I am interested in local people’s dependence on natural resources for obtaining adequate health. This interest has led to various studies into connections between wildlife consumption and the incidence of anemia, and the importance of botanical ethnomedicines and geophagy to local health. I am hoping, through this new collaboration with the Harvard University Center for the Environment, to increase the geographic scale and depth of this research.
Most broadly, I am interested in local people’s dependence on natural resources for obtaining adequate health. This interest has led to various studies into connections between wildlife consumption and the incidence of anemia, and the importance of botanical ethnomedicines and geophagy to local health. I am hoping, through this new collaboration with the Harvard University Center for the Environment, to increase the geographic scale and depth of this research.
