Networks Against Disease

Louise Gresham, executive director of Connecting Organizations for Regional Disease Surveillance, will lecture on global disease surveillance networks, April 10, at San Diego State University. 

The lecture, titled The Impeccable Logic of Cooperation: Cross-Border Surveillance and the Momentum for Global Health Security, is scheduled from 1 to 3 p.m. in Room 128 of Hepner Hall.  It will delve into the importance of these networks as models for cross-border cooperation in mounting flexible and coordinated responses to biological threats.

The presentation is part of the Global Health Symposium Series and is open to the public.

Cross-border cooperation

The spread of infectious disease, particularly those with pandemic potential, presents the region and the world a shared health and security threat.

Gresham will discuss how those risks can be controlled through actively observing and working against the migration of disease across borders.

She will also give examples of such partnerships in the private and public sectors of traditionally antagonistic nations in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Additionally, she will discuss her own experiences, such as developing a tuberculosis lab in North Korea.

About the Series

The seminar series aims to highlight the importance of international public health to the College of Health and Human Service, said Tom Novotny, a professor of epidemiology and associate director for global and border health at SDSU’s Graduate School of Public Health.

About Gresham

Louise Gresham is senior epidemiologist for the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency, Epidemiology Branch and a Professor in the SDSU Graduate School of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

She also cofounded the Masters of Science in Public Health in Global Emergency Preparedness and Response, and has more than 19 years of experience in the conduct and supervision of infectious disease surveillance, alert and response activities, as well as being active in the development of health policies.

Gresham is the site coordinator for the San Diego, U.S. Mexico Border Infectious Disease Surveillance Program and also served the CDC as a member of the expert panel on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Framework for Evaluation of Surveillance Systems.