Manisha Kulkarni
Associate Professor School of Epidemiology & Public Health at the University of Ottawa and Director, INSIGHT Lab.
- My research aims to address the challenges posed by emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases by understanding the upstream drivers of disease emergence and the determinants of disease risk. To this end, I apply epidemiological, ecological and geospatial approaches to examine the associations between disease occurrence in human populations and other ecosystem factors, such as climate and landscape features and the distributions and dynamics of arthropod vectors and animal reservoirs. In addition, I am engaged in applied research and intervention trials to develop and inform the implementation of appropriate public health interventions for disease prevention and control. My research focuses on malaria and other vector-borne diseases as well as maternal and child health, particularly in East Africa and in Canada.
- My doctoral research at McGill University characterized malaria transmission in a highland region of East Africa. I subsequently developed a program of applied malaria research in sub-Saharan Africa as Malaria Advisor for HealthBridge, and led national health surveys to evaluate the coverage of insecticide-treated nets and measles vaccination following national child health campaigns in sub-Saharan Africa. As a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Ottawa, I investigated the ecological, biological and social determinants of malaria transmission in epidemic-prone regions of Africa and Latin America, and applied eco-epidemiological modeling approaches to identify key determinants of malaria transmission and map potential hotspots of malaria risk in the Tanzanian highlands. At the Public Health Agency of Canada my research focused on vector-borne and zoonotic disease emergence in Canada, including the impacts of climate change on the epidemiology of arboviral encephalides in Canada.