Our conversations with the Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco started in the summer of 2022. Subsequently, the discussions evolved into bi-weekly Zoom meetings and a visit to Cuzco in September 2023 to formalize the establishment of an International Agreement between the two academic institutions. Additionally, during the visit, conversations were held with leaders from Gerencia Regional de Salud del Cusco (GERESA) concerning prospective collaborative initiatives involving Temple University, UNSAAC, and GERESA in the domains of environmental health and infectious diseases.
Our leading investigators in Peru:
Dr. Inkyu Han inkyu.han@temple.edu
Dr. Inkyu Han has expertise in exposure assessment and environmental epidemiology. As the director of the Human Exposure Assessment Laboratory (HEAL), Dr. Han focuses on the impact of short-term and long-term exposures to chemical and non-chemical stressors on human health and well-being. His lab also develops culturally appropriate interventions aimed at reducing cumulative exposures to chemical and non-chemical stressors, particularly among vulnerable populations. With the support of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Dr. Han and his team are working on four significant exposure assessment studies:
The ELSA Study: Understanding how exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) influences the immune responses of Hispanic women in San Antonio, Texas, who work as domestic cleaners.
The MALDA Study: An innovative project aimed at creating a human lung deposition model for ultrafine particulate matter found in urban settings.
The CAMP Study: A comprehensive exploration of ambient air microplastics and nanoplastics exposure levels in Philadelphia. The study seeks to pinpoint environmental determinants linked with heightened concentrations of these particulates.
The NIH Study: Nighttime Indoor Heat Exposure and its impact on individual heat adaptation strategies in Philadelphia communities.
Dr. Kirsten Wiens kirsten.wiens@temple.edu
The goal of Dr. Wiens’s work is to better understand underlying infectious disease burden in the context of imperfect surveillance data. She has used diverse methodological approaches to address this knowledge gap, including geostatistical models to map diarrheal diseases at high spatial resolution, seroepidemiology to estimate variation in exposure to SARS-CoV-2, and household transmission studies to understand susceptibility to cholera.
Dr. Wiens’s funded research includes highly collaborative projects to examine the degree to which cholera infections that go unobserved by traditional surveillance systems contribute to transmission. These unobserved infections may include mild or asymptomatic infections, infections in individuals with barriers to healthcare access, or may be missed due to limited testing resources, among other factors.
CPH The Common Good: Public Health Beyond Borders Collaborates with Local Communities in Peru