DGHI Researchers Receive Climate Pilot Grants from Duke, Duke-NUS

Three Duke Global Health Institute professors were named recipients of a first-time pilot grant funded by Duke University and Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore to advance research related to climate and health. 

They are Charles Nunn, Ph.D., the Gosnell Family Professor in Global Health; Nishad Jayasundara, Ph.D., the Juli Plant Grainger Assistant Professor of Global Environmental Health; and Hanzhang Xu, Ph.D., an assistant professor in family medicine and community health and a SFHI affiliate. Each project will be co-led by a researcher from Duke and Duke-NUS.

The awardees were selected from among 40 proposals. This is the first time the collaborative grants given by Duke and Duke-NUS have prioritized climate and health research.

“Our decision to focus this year's grants on climate change stems from our recognition of the escalating health impacts due to increasingly extreme weather conditions,” says Patrick Tan, senior vice-dean for Research at Duke-NUS. “By combining Duke's robust research capabilities with Duke-NUS's strategic location and expertise, we are uniquely positioned to lead efforts that anticipate and mitigate health crises arising from climate change.”

Each of the five  projects brings together top researchers from both institutions, with the objective of developing international research teams that will advance basic, translational and clinical research.

This partnership not only aims to produce world-class research but also to develop practical solutions that can be implemented in regions most affected by climate change, including both the US and Singapore, as well as other parts of the world.

“These new Duke and Duke-NUS investigator teams are the first of many steps required to foster global connections and research needed to address the critical public health challenge of climate change and its health impacts,” said Robert M Tighe, M.D., an associate professor of medicine and leader of Duke University School of Medicine’s climate research strategy. “This effort continues the ever-strengthening relationship between Duke and Duke-NUS with a new focus on climate and health research. I look forward to seeing how these projects develop.”

See below for the full list of grant recipients and their project summaries:
 

TITLE: Linking environments and markets to understand regional spread of infections along networks in Madagascar

PIs: Charles Nunn, Gavin Smith (Duke-NUS PI)

SUMMARY: Climate change is having both direct and indirect impacts on Madagascar’s rural populations, who are primarily small-holder farmers engaged in subsistence agriculture. One of the primary ways this population is addressing climate-induced food insecurity is by selling livestock, which requires travel from their rural villages to more central markets via the taxi brousse (bush taxi) system. This process entails placing livestock into crowded spaces, either on a taxi brousse (for travel) or in markets (for sale), leading to potential viral mixing and the emerging of panzootic and/or pandemic diseases. The results of this project will allow for competitive external proposals at the intersection of climate change, adaptation, global health security and emerging infectious disease.

Title: Heat stress, kidney health and lived experience of communities in the climate frontlines in Sri Lanka: an interdisciplinary population health analysis through a planetary health lens

PIs: Nishad Jayasundara, Renzo Guinto (Duke-NUS)

SUMMARY: This interdisciplinary mixed-method study aims to unpack the connections between heat stress, kidney health and lived experience of communities affected by these interlocking challenges in the climate frontlines in Sri Lanka. It will be investigated through epidemiological approaches that build on an existing cohort as well as through key informant interviews of farmers and health system and community health needs assessment.

TITLE: Perception and lived experience of health effects of climate change among vulnerable older adults residing in Durham and Singapore – informing health communication interventions

PIs: Hanzhang Xu, Rahul Malhotra (Duke-NUS PI)

SUMMARY: Climate change, manifested through extreme weather events, temperature fluctuations and rising sea levels, poses significant health risks for older adults, aged 60 years and older. Additionally, vulnerable older adults – those with low socio-economic status, those living alone and those with multiple chronic conditions – face increased climate change-related health risks given their limited access to information and resources, existing physiological decline and potential disruptions to their healthcare and social support. Study findings will inform targeted health communication interventions aimed at enhancing climate change resilience among vulnerable older adults, and influence healthcare policies on ageing and climate change in Durham and Singapore.

TITLE: Climate change, heat exposure and urinary stone disease

PIs: Charles Scales (Duke), Chong Tsung Wen (Duke-NUS)

SUMMARY: The research will focus on understanding the relationship of increasing temperatures from climate change, the incidence and health care utilization for kidney stone disease and assessing disproportionate impact of climate change on vulnerable populations. The investigations will link temperature data with medical records on a geospatial basis over time, to understand relationships between temperature, local infrastructure and health care utilization for stone disease. The results will provide key data to support the development of interventions to increase heat resilience among individuals at risk for stone disease. In addition, understanding risk factors disproportionately impacting vulnerable populations offers the opportunity to increase climate-related health equity in both Singapore and North Carolina.

TITLE: Impact of wildfire smoke and heat on acute cardiopulmonary outcomes in Southeast Asia

PIs: Vijay Krishnamoorthy (Duke), Marcus Ong Eng Hock (Duke-NUS)

SUMMARY: Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme heat events and amplifying wildfire intensity. Communities, healthcare professionals, and policymakers urgently need high-quality data to guide decision-making. Vulnerable populations are most affected by climate change, making it crucial to produce evidence on the extent of this impact. High-resolution data on the health benefits of climate action can form the backbone of international climate mitigation policies and applied to climate change models of future warming scenarios.