Global Health Institute Open House

About this event

The Global Health Institute is hosting a seminar followed by an open house from 4-6:30 p.m. All interested parties are encouraged to join, no matter their area or level of study. Dinner will be provided. The seminar is titled "Environments, Exposure, and Health: Integrating Disease Transmission, Program-based Surveillance, and Environmental Determinants in LMICs to Build Global Research Capacity" and will be hosted by Dr. Oscar de León from 4-5 p.m. Dr. León is a lead research scientist at the Center for Health Studies, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala. He utilizes environmental health science and epidemiological methods to design and assess public health interventions at the personal, household, community, and population levels. He has extensive experience in research and evaluation projects, often working directly with affected communities, local leaders, and national stakeholders in Guatemala. His work on infectious disease surveillance has been used to inform national and global health policies and has directly supported the certification of elimination of diseases affecting low-income populations in Latin America. Since 2017, Dr. de León has collaborated on research in rural communities in Jalapa, Guatemala, through projects assessing exposure to air pollution and evaluating the health effects of interventions focused on household pollution and community-level waste management. As part of the Ecolectivos trial, he evaluates data quality and models exposure to air pollution, focusing on validating whether current exposure assessment methodologies are appropriate for estimating the health impacts of domestic plastic burning. Interested parties can join the seminar in-person or via Zoom depending on their availability. Following Dr. León's seminar, GHI faculty, students, and organizations will provide an overview of their activities and goals related to global health at UGA. All attending parties will be given the opportunity to network and build stronger campus connections.