Dickson Despommier, Ph.D.
Columbia University
Dickson Despommier, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus of Public Health in Environmental Health Sciences and Microbiology at Columbia University Medical Center. He is a microbiologist/ecologist by training, and for 27 years conducted laboratory-based research on molecular aspects of intracellular parasitism. Despommier also teaches Parasitic Diseases, and Ecology 101 at Columbia. These courses deal with parasitism and its effects on large segments of the poor that live in the tropics.
Controlling soil-based transmission cycles of helminthes that cause significant health problems throughout the world is of prime importance to Despommier. Since it is generally agreed agriculture is solely responsible for so much environmental disturbance and serves as the interface for the transmission of geohelminths, one area of his focus has been on how to raise food without further encroachment into natural ecosystems. Despommier established as a theoretical construct to look at the possibility of agricultural sustainability within cities.
Controlling soil-based transmission cycles of helminthes that cause significant health problems throughout the world is of prime importance to Despommier. Since it is generally agreed agriculture is solely responsible for so much environmental disturbance and serves as the interface for the transmission of geohelminths, one area of his focus has been on how to raise food without further encroachment into natural ecosystems. Despommier established as a theoretical construct to look at the possibility of agricultural sustainability within cities.