Community and Human Health
This is a collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary approach — working at the local, regional, national, and global levels — to achieve improved human health and well-being. Our approach identifies the inhabitants who are most vulnerable due to a lack of material wealth, water and food insecurity, and gender-related issues. We recognize that the health and well-being of local inhabitants is key to the conservation and sustainability of the Galapagos, like many other ecologically sensitive places.
Our projects include topics in: Epidemiology, Public Health and Policy, Gender Studies, Tourism, and Food Security, Nutrition and Pollution.
Let’s meet the impactful projects and their researchers:
RESEARCH PROJECTS
Eco-business skills, sustainable development and business on world heritage environments
Researcher: Candy Abad Arévalo
Year: 2024
Digital archeology and virtual reality at the Muro de las Lágrimas site (1940-1959)
Researchers: Fernando J. Astudillo, Paúl Rosero
Year: 2024
Analysis of stable isotopes of water (delta18O and delta2H) in collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as a base line for high-impact hydrological scientific studies
Researchers: Pablo Dávila, Stefan Terzer, Kevin Rodríguez, Wendy Vernaza, María Soledad Sarsoza, Marjorie Riofrío-Lazo
Year: 2024
Youth perceptions of living in the Galapagos: Relationships, health, and the future
Researchers: Cindy Fraga, Rainier Masa, Mimi Chapman
Year: 2024
Dietary decision-making in the context of water insecurity: Perspectives from adults on the Galapagos Islands
Researchers: Joshua Miller, Amanda Thompson, Khristopher Nicholas, Linda Adair, Jill Stewart, Valeria Ochoa-Herrera
Year: 2024
Investigation of factors of malnutrition in the inhabitants of San Cristóbal Island
Researcher: Jaime Ocampo
Year: 2024
Agri(cultures) of Disease and Climate Adaptation in the Galapagos
Researcher: Caela O’Connell
Year: 2024
Researcher: Jaime Ortíz
Year: 2024
Researcher: María Isabel Paz
Year: 2024
Livestock welfare management; antimicrobial knowledge, attitudes and practices among farmers; and presence of extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing (Escherichia coli) in the sectors of One Health, Floreana Island, Galapagos
Researcher: Sarah Rhea
Year: 2024
Exploring the Relationships Between Diet Quality, Farm Access, and Anemia in Galápagos
Researcher: Alfredo Rojas
Year: 2024
Characterization of the anthropogenic impact on antibiotic resistance in the environment
Researchers: Jill Stewart, Valeria Ochoa, Corbin Jones, Amanda Thompson, Hanna Brosky, Alyssa Grube
Year: 2024
The dual burden of disease in the Galapagos, Ecuador: An interdisciplinary study of food and water on Isabela Island
Researchers: Amanda Thompson, Donald L. Fejfar, Elijah Watson, Kishan Patel, Nick Badhwa, Khristopher Nicholas, Margaret Bentley, Jill Stewart
Year: 2024
Water, food, and health in San Cristóbal: The healthy family study
Researchers: Amanda Thompson, Enrique Terán, Margaret Bentley, Jill Stewart, Jaime Ocampo, Graham Pluck, Khristopher Nicholas
Year: 2024
Social and environmental factors associated with human health in Galapagos, Ecuador
Researcher: Amanda Thompson
Year: 2024
Alien species in the Galapagos: Quantifying environmental and socio-economic impacts and assessing stakeholder perceptions
Researchers: Pieter Marinus Johannes van‘t Hof
Year: 2024
Reducing the dual burden of child malnutrition through double-duty actions
Researchers: Heather Wasser
Year: 2024
Academic Practice Partnership for Pofessional Development (ADAPT)
Researcher: Megan Williams, Ashley Leak Bryant
Year: 2024
Study of the circulation of (Toxoplasma Gondii) in the Galapagos through molecular methods
Researcher: Sonia Zapata
Year: 2024
Gender-based violence during COVID-19 in the Galapagos Islands
Researchers: Sofia Zaragocín, Joyce Robalino, Isabel Iturralde
Year: 2024
The power of place for education: An exploration of place-based learning in the Galápagos
Researchers: Troy Sadler
Year: 2023
Lessons from the environmental resistome in Galapagos: A One Health perspective
Researchers: Jill Stewart, Alyssa Grube
Year: 2023
Water quality assessments on San Cristóbal Island, Ecuador
Researchers: Jill Stewart, Alyssa Grube, Valeria Ochoa Herrera, Hanna Brosky
Year: 2023
Understanding young adults (18-24 years of age) risks and protective factors related to youth pregnancy and violence in the Galapagos
Researcher: Natalia Villegas Rodríguez
Year: 2023
The interplay between global change and host-pathogen dynamics
Researcher: Senay Yitbarek
Year: 2023
The value of mangroves and other coastal habitats for fishery species in the Galapagos Islands
Researcher: Ronald Baker
Year: 2022
Identification of movement patterns, habitat use, diet patterns and epidemiological factors associated with the positive diagnosis of (Mycoplasma spp) and (Toxoplasma spp) in cats on San Cristóbal Island, Galapagos
Researcher: Jaime Grijalva
Year: 2022
Researchers: Khristopher M. Nicholas, Amanda Thompson, Peggy Bentley, Sally Kuehn
Year: 2022
Food environments in the Galapagos: geographic and behavioral determinants of diet and health
Researchers: Khristopher M. Nicholas, Margaret Bentley, Amanda Thompson
Year: 2022
Evolution and ecological considerations of Galapagos marine iguana morphology and locomotion: A comparative investigation into the invasion of the aquatic environment in reptiles
Researchers: Kate Berry, Christofer Clemente, Andrew Olds, Carlos Valle
Year: 2021
Investigation and monitoring of impacts in visiting sites of the Galapagos National Park, with an adaptive and integrated approach
Researchers: Susana Cárdenas, Günther Reck, Yu Fai Leung, Maryuri Yépez, Katalina Gallardo, Alex Hearn, Gonzalo Rivas, Valeria Ochoa-Herrera
Year: 2021
Healthy moms, healthy babies: The intergenerational effects of maternal stress in the Galapagos Islands
Researchers: Hannah Jahnke, Amanda Thompson, Margaret Bentley, Enrique Terán
Year: 2021
Agriculture, wildlife, and land use in the Galapagos
Vulnerability and adaptive capacity in a tourist destination community, San Cristóbal, Galapagos
Researchers: Francisco Laso, Steve Walsh, Javier Arce-Nazario
Year: 2015-2021
Synthesis of drivers, patterns, and trajectories of LCLUC in Island ecosystems, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Researchers: Steve Walsh, Richard Bilsborrow, Laura Brewington, Yang Shao, Hernando Mattei, Francisco Laso, Phil Page, Brian Frizzelle
Year: 2017
Beaches in the Galapagos
Researchers: Steve Walsh, Laura Brewington, Phil Page, Brian Frizzelle
Year: 2017
Fish and marine invertebrates served in restaurants and their relationship with the tourism industry in Galapagos
Researcher: Margarita Brandt
Year: 2016
Historical ecology of the Galapagos Islands
Researcher: Florencio Delgado
Year: 2016
Modeling fisheries in the Galapagos Islands
Researchers: Steve Walsh, Kim Engie, Phil Page, Brian Frizzelle
Year: 2016