180-Minute Symposium

180-116

Wave of the Future: Predicting Human Health Threats in Our Oceans

Track:

Oceans and Coastlines

Session Start/End Time:

Friday, Feb 16, 2007, 1:45 PM - 4:45 PM

Hotel:

Hilton San Francisco, Ballroom Level

Franciscan B

Fifty years ago, a fully automated 21st century world was envisioned with technologies that could solve most, if not all, of the planet’s problems. Yet today, questions about whether seafood is safe to eat, the water safe to drink, or whether it is safe to swim in the ocean or walk along the beach, are often answered a day too late, resulting in significant public health and economic impacts. In a time of increasing concern about natural disasters and looming epidemics from animal-borne diseases, new technologies are needed to detect, predict, and prevent public health impacts related to the oceans, coasts and Great Lakes. This symposium highlights the accelerating development of new tools and technologies that can report on the condition of our ocean waters and begin to predict whether there are unseen or brewing threats to human health and well-being. An interdisciplinary mix of academic, federal, and state scientists will address the use of remote sensing and genomic-based technologies, environmental and public health biosensors, zoonotic disease surveillance of marine mammals and seabirds, and real-time detection and predictive oceanographic modeling tools that when linked to U.S. and global ocean observing systems can ultimately create a framework for early warning systems to forecast -- and minimize -- future health risks to humans.

Organized by:

Paul Sandifer, NOAA Oceans and Human Health Initiative, Charleston, SC;Carolyn Sotka, NOAA Oceans and Human Health Initiative, Charleston, SC;Juli Trtanj, NOAA Oceans and Human Health Initiative, Washington, DC

Presentations:

  Moderator--Carolyn Sotka.
NOAA Oceans and Human Health Initiative, Charleston, SC, USA.

  Looking Toward a Future Seascape of Technologies To Detect, Predict, and Prevent Threats to Human Health--Paul Sandifer.
NOAA Oceans and Human Health Initiative, Charleston, SC, USA.

  Linking Global Observations, Integrated Ocean Observing Systems, Pandemics, and Public Health: The Cholera Paradigm--Rita R. Colwell.
University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.

  Tracking Pathogens from Space: Risk Assessments to Predict Seafood Contamination--Jay Grimes.
University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS, USA.

  Drinking Water and Health: Forecasting Pathogen Risks in the Great Lakes--Joan Rose.
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.

  Zoonotic Disease Surveillance: Using Seabirds and Marine Mammals To Detect Health Threats--Michael Moore.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA.

  Revolutionary DNA Technologies: Rapid Detection of Multiple Waterborne Harmful Organisms--Patrick Brown.
NOAA Hollings Marine Laboratory, Charleston, SC, USA.

  Linking Harmful Algal Bloom Forecasting to Ocean Observing Systems for Public Warnings--Vera Trainer.
NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, WA, USA.

  Was It Something I Ate, Drank, or Swam in? A Cry for Epidemiology-Based Studies--Lorraine Backer.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.