11 Feb (CLIM) Golhke, Floods, Heat and Health

Speaker: Julia Golhke, Virginia Tech

Title: Floods, Heat, and Health: Climate change risks and adaptation strategies across urban and rural environments

Time: Wed, 11 Feb, 1:30pm 

Location: Innovation Hall 131 and via Zoom (for link, email bklinger@gmu.edu)

Host: Daniel Tong

Dr. Julia Gohlke is a Professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA. Her research group is currently employing spatial epidemiology methods to examine health outcomes associated with resource extraction, and heat and flood events across urban and rural landscapes. She collaborates with earth scientists, environmental engineers, geographers, computer scientists, and statisticians to understand how climate change, and mitigation and adaptation strategies, influence human health outcomes. One example she will discuss utilizes satellite-derived estimates of inundation extents to categorize flood exposure and subsequently evaluate changes in emergency department visits following flood events. Another example she will present uses estimates of sea level rise to assess changes in mortality risk due to coastal flooding. She currently teaches graduate level courses in rural environmental health and Appalachian community research and directs an NIH-funded PhD training program in rural environmental health.