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"Tick": by Brian Allan
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Brian Allan: by L. Brian Stauffe
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Disease Ecologist to Present Annual Morrow Lecture and Biological Sciences Research Seminar April 4

March 5, 2024

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MACOMB, IL – Internationally recognized ecologist Brian Allan will deliver the annual Roger and Jean Morrow Lecture, "Effects of Global Change on Vector-Borne Disease." at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 4 in Stipes Hall, room 121.

Before the Morrow lecture, he will also deliver a Biological Sciences Seminar, " The Consequences of Livestock-Wildlife Integration for Tick-Borne Disease Risk in Central Kenya," at noon, April 4 in Waggoner Hall, room 202.

Historically, livestock and wildlife were perceived to compete for resources in African savannas. However, in his noon talk, he will discuss research by him and his colleagues suggesting that there may be many beneficial interactions, including better management of tick-borne diseases.

"Globally, despite many gains in human medicine, the burden of disease transmitted by insects and other arthropod vectors is increasing due to human-caused environmental change," Allan said.

In the Morrow Lecture, Allan will discuss multiple mechanisms of global change that are contributing to the emergence of vector-borne diseases, but also novel opportunities for their control.

Allan is a professor of Entomology and the associate director for Academic Affairs for the School of Integrative Biology at the University of Illinois. He is broadly interested in the ecology of infectious diseases, particularly diseases transmitted via the bite of an infected arthropod (e.g., ticks and mosquitoes) and has authored approximately 65 publications and multiple reports addressing these topics. He uses various tools in his research, including molecular technologies, remote sensing applications and theoretical modeling.

He was selected as an Ecological Society of America Early Career Fellow for his research achievements and has been featured in a variety of popular media outlets including National Wildlife Magazine, Scientific American, the New York Times, National Public Radio and BBC World Service Radio.

Allan trains graduate students to become ecology, entomology and public health leaders. He is also deeply engaged in undergraduate education and has developed courses at the intersection of environmental change and human health. At the University of Illinois, he is consistently on the "List of teachers ranked excellent by their students" and received the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Dean's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 2019.

The Roger and Jean Morrow Distinguished Lecture is funded through an endowment in honor of Roger M. Morrow, the first head of the WIU Department of Physics and his wife, Jean, who was one of the University's first female faculty members in the WIU Department of Biological Sciences.

For more information, contact WIU Biological Sciences Professor Shawn Meagher at SA-Meagher1@wiu.edu.

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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