Margaret Carrel
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
"My research centers on exploring geographic patterns of health and disease using GIS
and spatial statistical techniques. The focus of my current research is to understand
how complex interactions between people and environments result both in disease outcomes
and the progressive evolution of human pathogens."
Human-Environment Drivers of Pathogenic Evolution
This research emphasis is situated in the emergent field of landscape genetics, which combines the spatial analytic techniques of landscape ecology
and geography with the computational methods of population genetics. I am applying these landscape genetics methods to the study of H5N1
influenza in Vietnam, H1N1 in China, malaria drug resistance in the Congo and HIV drug resistance in North Carolina.
Human-Environment Interactions & Disease Outcomes
I also conduct diarrheal disease research in rural Bangladesh, examining how the installation of flood control measures and deep drinking water tubewells interact to produce or prevent diarrheal events. A new project based in Iowa will examine how residential proximity to swine CAFOs is related to MRSA infections.
Fall Courses
044:137 Environment & Health: GIS Applications is a discussion/lab class designed to introduce students to the variety of spatial statistical techniques used to analyze health outcomes.
044:151 Geography of Health is a class that examines how populations interact with their environments in ways that produce or prevent disease outcomes.
Spring Courses
044:060 The Geography of Asia: From Japan to Pakistan is a course that explores the major issues facing contemporary Asia, including population growth, environmental degradation, human migration, emerging economies and natural disasters.
044: 107 Hungry Planet: Global Geographies of Food explores how food environments are created and have changed through time, and the population and environmental repercussions of our current food system.
Recent Publications
• Carrel, M., Emch, M., Nguyen, T., Jobe, T. & Wan, X-F. (2012) Population and environment drivers of H5N1 avian influenza evolution in Vietnam. Health & Place. Accepted.
•Carrel, M., Wan, X-F., Nguyen, T., & Emch, M. (2012) Highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza viruses exhibit few barriers to gene flow in Vietnam. EcoHealth. Accepted.
• Carrel, M., Wan, X-F., Nguyen, T., & Emch, M. (2011) Genetic Variation of Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Avian Influenza Viruses in Vietnam Shows Both Species-Specific and Spatiotemporal Associations. Avian Diseases 55(4): 659-666.
• Carrel, M., Escamilla, V., Messina, J., Giebultowicz, S., Winston, J., Yunus, M., Streatfield, P.K., & Emch, M. (2011) Diarrheal disease risk in rural Bangladesh decreases as tubewell density increases: a zero-inflated and geographically weighted analysis. International Journal of Health Geographics 10:41. doi:10.1186/1476-072X-10-41.
• Emch, M., & Carrel, M. (2011). Neighborhoods & environmental determinants of infectious diseases. In J. Nriagu (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Environmental Health. Elsevier.
• Carrel, M., Voss, P., Streatfield, P.K., Yunus, M. & Emch, M. (2010) Protection from annual flooding is correlated with increased cholera prevalence in Bangladesh: a zero-inflated regression analysis. Environmental Health 9(13). doi:10.1186/1476-069X-9-13.
• Carrel, M., Emch, M., Jobe, R.T., Moody, A. & Wan, X-F. (2010) Spatio-temporal Structure of Molecular Evolution of H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Vietnam. PLoS One 5(1): e8631. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008631
• Carrel, M., Emch, M., Streatfield, P.K., & Yunus, M. (2009) Spatio-temporal Clustering of Cholera: The Impact of Flood Control in Matlab, Bangladesh, 1983-2003. Health & Place 15(3): 741-752.
• Carrel, M. & Rennie, S. (2008). Demographic & Health Surveillance: Longitudinal Ethical Considerations. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 86: 612-616.
• Wan, X-F., Nguyen, T., Smith, C., Zhao, Z., Carrel, M., Davis, C., Balish, A., Luo, F., Emch, M., Klimov, A. & Donis, R. (2008). Genesis of Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Avian Influenza Viruses in Vietnam from 2001-2007: Introduction, Inheritance, Adaptation, and Selection. PLoS One 3(10): e3462.
Other Information:
Office:
303 Jessup Hall
Mailing Address:
Department of Geography
316 Jessup Hall
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242
Phone: (319) 335-0154
Fax: (319) 335-2725
E-mail: margaret-carrel@uiowa.edu
