Daniel Streicker
Biography
Daniel G. Streicker, is a Sir Henry Dale Research Fellow at the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine at the University of Glasgow. His research applies longitudinal field studies, phylogenetics, and epidemiological modeling to understand the process by which infectious diseases emerge and establish in new host species. He received his Ph.D. from the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia in 2011 and worked previously as an Emerging Infectious Diseases Fellow at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He received the 2013 Robert C. Anderson Award for Best Dissertation in Life Science from the University of Georgia and has received funding from the National Science Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, the Royal Society, the American Philosophical Society, and National Geographic.
Synopsis
Summary
From Persistence to Cross-Species Emergence of a Viral Zoonosis
Emerging infectious diseases threaten all forms of life on Earth. Many pathogens of great historical and contemporary significance have originated from other species, triggering pandemics, disrupting agriculture, and challenging efforts to conserve endangered wildlife. Despite decades of research on species-jumping pathogens, the most central questions in the field remain major stumbling blocks for societies that seek to mitigate their impacts. These questions include which pathogens are most likely to emerge, which hosts are most likely to share pathogens, and what will be the long-term fate of newly emerged pathogens? Part of the challenge is that emergence, by nature, transcends scientific disciplines, occurring as the product of human behavior, environmental change, population, cellular and molecular biology, and evolution. Solutions therefore demand innovative pairing of theory and fundamental science with applied research and evidence-based policy-making.