Welcome to FYOS 1001

This is the course website for FYOS 1001: Ebola

Description. The 2013-2015 Ebola epidemic in West Africa was a public health emergency of international concern. This event highlights the interconnections among clinical medicine, social forces and culture, government, poverty, and ecology that give rise to emerging infectious diseases. This seminar will study this event from multiple points of view. Students will consider how a multi-disciplinary perspective provides a richer understanding of the development of the epidemic. Students will investigate how social, ecological, and geographic conditions both created a context for the Ebola virus to emerge in West Africa and enabled sustained transmission. This event provides a focal point for considering the role of emerging infectious diseases in public health.

Instructor. Dr. Drake is a Professor in the Odum School of Ecology. He received his PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Notre Dame for work on the ecology of aquatic invasive species. Dr. Drake’s research tackles a wide range of questions in ecology and population dynamics, united by a common focus on data-driven analysis, quantitative methods, and computer-assisted modeling. During 2014 and 2015, Dr. Drake led a team of analysts to develop models of the ongoing West Africa Ebola epidemic in an effort to provide real time information that might assist decision-makers, policymakers, and other responders. For more information, see his website at http://daphnia.ecology.uga.edu/drakelab/.

Author: Dr. Drake

Professor of Ecology at the University of Georgia