UC Davis experts: International health

With its veterinary, medical and agricultural schools, UC Davis has broad expertise in the area of international health.

• International nutrition
• Global public health
• Viral diseases, insects and global health
• Insect-transmitted diseases
• AIDS research and funds for India
• More meat for hungry people
• Infectious diseases that affect people and animals
• Viral livestock diseases and global health

International nutrition

Dr. Ken Brown is a pediatrician and professor of nutrition, who also is the director of UC Davis' International and Community Nutrition Program. He has research projects under way in Bangladesh and Peru. His research focuses on childhood malnutrition in low-income countries and the relationships between infection and nutrition. He also studies the control of micronutrient deficiencies, particularly in relation to zinc and vitamin A. He is available to do interviews in Spanish and English. Contact: Ken Brown, Nutrition, (530) 752-1992, .

Global public health

Dr. Marc Schenker is a professor and chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences. He also directs the Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety and is leading the effort to establish a school of public health at UC Davis. He can discuss international issues in occupational and environmental health. Contact: Marc Schenker, School of Medicine, 752-5676, .

Viral diseases, insects and global health

Tom Scott is an expert in the ecology, evolution and control of mosquitoes and how they transmit diseases such as dengue fever, yellow fever, St. Louis encephalitis and West Nile fever. He can discuss how scientists can carry out surveillance for these diseases, how ecology and environmental factors influence the spread of viral diseases into new areas, and strategies for prevention of insect-transmitted diseases. His research group is involved in research projects in various countries including Thailand, Peru and Mexico. Contact: Tom Scott, Entomology, (530) 754-4196, .

Insect-transmitted diseases

Gregory Lanzaro is a medical entomologist and director of the University of California Mosquito Research Program, which is based at UC Davis. He has active research on the genetics and population biology of mosquitoes that transmit malaria in West Africa and leishmaniasis in Latin America. He can discuss tropical and emerging insect-transmitted diseases of humans and animals, including existing and developing mosquito-control strategies. Contact: Gregory Lanzaro, UC Mosquito Research Program, (530) 752-6983, .

AIDS research and funds for India

Koen Van Rompay, a virologist at the California National Primate Research Center, studies AIDS, the effects of antiviral drug treatment, and the mechanisms by which viruses cause disease. As an outgrowth of his research, he founded a nonprofit organization called Sahaya International several years ago to raise funds for socio-economic development programs and HIV programs (including peer education, support and care) in southern India and Kenya. He is available to do interviews in Dutch and English. Contact: Koen Van Rompay, California National Primate Research Center, (530) 752-5281, .

More meat for hungry people

Montague (Tag) Demment is an agronomy professor and director of the UC Davis-based Global Livestock Collaborative Research Support Program. This global livestock program has done research that shows the value of animal-source foods for cognitive and physical development of children in developing countries. Ongoing research is directed at the role of animal-source foods in supplying the additional micronutrients and protein critical to the well-being of HIV/AIDS-infected mothers in Kenya. The program, funded jointly by the U.S. Agency for International Development and participating universities, most recently began work on the PEACE project in Afghanistan, where it is helping nomadic herders better forecast forage availability, identify the best markets for their animals and avoid or resolve land-use disputes. Demment also serves as associate vice president for international development for the National Association for Public Universities and Colleges. Contact: Montague (Tag) Demment, Plant Sciences, (530) 752-7757, .

Infectious diseases that affect people and animals

Bruno Chomel (pronounced shaw-MEL) is a professor of veterinary medicine and director of the World Health Organization/Pan American Health Organization Collaborating Center on New and Emerging Zoonoses, which studies infectious diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans. He can talk about the international threat from new and re-emerging disease. He has a particular interest in Hantavirus, rabies, plague, cat-scratch disease and an infectious disease known as bartonella. He also brings an international perspective, having been raised and educated in France. He is available to do interviews in French and English. Contact: Bruno Chomel, Veterinary Medicine, (530) 752-8112, .

Viral livestock diseases and global health

Tilahun Yilma is a veterinary professor specializing in viral diseases and director of the School of Veterinary Medicine's International Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Tropical Diseases. In the 1970s, he worked as a researcher at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Plum Island Animal Disease Center in New York and has done extensive research on foot-and-mouth disease. Yilma developed a genetically engineered vaccine for the devastating cattle disease rinderpest. The vaccine is now in use in Africa, and Yilma is currently doing research on potential AIDS vaccines. He can also speak to the scientific/medical "brain-drain" from Africa and other developing regions. He is available to do interviews in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, as well as in English. Contact: Tilahun Yilma, (530) 752-8306, .

Media contact

• Patricia Bailey, News Service, (530) 752-9843, .

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