October 14th, 2025 | 11.30 am
Politecnico di Milano - De Donato Room (Building 3)
Speaker: Prof. David Hayman
Contacts: phd-step@polimi.it
Sommario
On October 14th, 2025, at 11:30 am, the seminar of the series STEP-CHANGE - Pathogen Emergence at the Human–Wildlife Interface: Ecology, Spillover, and Public Health will be held in Politecnico di Milano, De Donato Room (Building 3).Emerging infectious diseases frequently originate at the human–wildlife interface, where ecological change, land use, biodiversity loss, and human activities converge to create opportunities for spillover. This talk examines the ecological and epidemiological mechanisms underpinning pathogen emergence, with a focus on bats and other reservoir hosts that harbour high-risk viruses such as coronaviruses, henipaviruses, and lyssaviruses. Drawing on nearly two decades of field studies, modelling approaches, and comparative analyses across regions, it highlights how host ecology, seasonality, and human mobility interact to influence disease dynamics. By integrating ecological data with public health surveillance and One Health frameworks, we can identify hotspots of risk, develop more effective early warning systems, and inform targeted interventions that reduce the likelihood of future pandemics.
Please register here to attend.
Biografia
Professor David Hayman is a New Zealand–based infectious disease ecologist at Massey University, where he is Professor of Infectious Disease Ecology, Percival Carmine Chair in Epidemiology and Public Health, and Co-Director of the Molecular Epidemiology and Public Health Laboratory (mEpiLab). His research focuses on the ecological and epidemiological drivers of zoonotic disease spillover, including from wildlife reservoirs such as bats. He has led studies on bat-borne viruses, including coronaviruses, henipaviruses, and lyssaviruses, combining field ecology, molecular epidemiology, and mathematical modelling to understand cross-species transmission.Professor Hayman has served as a lead and contributing author to major international assessments, including the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Nexus Assessment and the joint WHO-China investigation of the origins of SARS-CoV-2, and contributes expertise to the One Health High-Level Expert Panel (OHHLEP). OHHLEP is the scientific advisory body to the Quadripartite—comprising the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)—which provides strategic guidance on One Health approaches to global health challenges.