Desiree LaBeaud
· Professor, Pediatrics (Infectious Diseases) and, by courtesy, of Epidemiology and Population Health, and, by courtesy, of Environmental Social Science at the Stanford Doerr School of SustainabilityStanford University · African Studies
Active 2010–2022
About
Dr. Desiree LaBeaud is a physician-scientist, epidemiologist, and professor in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Stanford University’s School of Medicine. She received her MD from the Medical College of Wisconsin and completed her pediatric residency and pediatric infectious disease fellowship at Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital. She also earned a master’s degree in Clinical Research and Epidemiology at Case Western Reserve University. Her research focuses on the epidemiology and ecology of domestic and international arboviruses and emerging infections, with particular interest in the vector, host, and environmental factors that influence transmission dynamics and disease spectrum. Her community-engaged research aims to define and disrupt the structural determinants of health, including the health impacts of climate change and solutions to the global plastic pollution crisis. Her current field sites include Kenya, Grenada, and Brazil. She heads a clinical research lab dedicated to understanding risk factors and long-term health consequences of arboviral infections and exploring effective prevention methods. Additionally, she recently launched the nonprofit Health and Environmental Research Institute-Kenya (HERI-Kenya), which promotes community education, research, policy change, and activism in environmental health issues in Kenya.
Research topics
- Medicine
- Environmental planning
- Political Science
- Environmental health
- Environmental science
- Business
- Archaeology
- Economic growth
- Natural resource economics
- Biology
- Ecology
- International trade
- Virology
- Engineering
- Waste management
- Economics
- Geography
Selected publications
PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2023 · 15 citations
- Environmental health
- Geography
- Veterinary medicine
Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a zoonotic arbovirus that has profound impact on domestic ruminants and can also be transmitted to humans via infected animal secretions. Urban areas in endemic regions across Africa have susceptible animal and human hosts, dense vector distributions, and source livestock (often from high risk locations to meet the demand for animal protein). Yet, there has never been a documented urban outbreak of RVF. To understand the likely risk of RVFV introduction to urban communities from their perspective and guide future initiatives, we conducted focus group discussions with slaughterhouse workers, slaughterhouse animal product traders, and livestock owners in Kisumu City and Ukunda Town in Kenya. For added perspective and data triangulation, in-depth interviews were conducted one-on-one with meat inspector veterinarians from selected slaughterhouses. A theoretical framework relevant to introduction, transmission, and potential persistence of RVF in urban areas is presented here. Urban livestock were primarily mentioned as business opportunities, but also had personal sentiment. In addition to slaughtering risks, perceived risk factors included consumption of fresh milk. High risk groups' knowledge and experience with RVFV and other zoonotic diseases impacted their consideration of personal risk, with consensus towards lower risk in the urban setting compared to rural areas as determination of health risk was said to primarily rely on hygiene practices rather than the slaughtering process. Groups relied heavily on veterinarians to confirm animal health and meat safety, yet veterinarians reported difficulty in accessing RVFV diagnostics. We also identified vulnerable public health regulations including corruption in meat certification outside of the slaughterhouse system, and blood collected during slaughter being used for food and medicine, which could provide a means for direct RVFV community transmission. These factors, when compounded by diverse urban vector breeding habitats and dense human and animal populations, could create suitable conditions for RVFV to arrive an urban center via a viremic imported animal, transmit to locally owned animals and humans, and potentially adapt to secondary vectors and persist in the urban setting. This explorative qualitative study proposes risk pathways and provides initial insight towards determining how urban areas could adapt control measures and plan future initiatives to better understand urban RVF potential.
One Health · 2022 · 11 citations
- Veterinary medicine
- Geography
- Socioeconomics
Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is an economically devastating, zoonotic arbovirus endemic across Africa with potential to cause severe disease in livestock and humans. Viral spread is primarily driven by movement of domestic ruminants and there is a high potential for transboundary spread. Despite influx of livestock to urban areas in response to the high demand for meat and animal products, RVFV has not been detected in any urban center. The objectives of this study were to determine the feasibility of assessing risk of RVFV introduction to urban Kisumu, Kenya, by testing slaughtered livestock for RVFV exposure and mapping livestock origins. Blood was collected from cattle, sheep, and goats directly after slaughter and tested for anti-RVFV IgG antibodies. Slaughterhouse businessmen responded to a questionnaire on their individual animals' origin, marketplace, and transport means. Thereafter, we mapped livestock flow from origin to slaughterhouse using participatory methods in focus group discussions with stakeholders. Qualitative data on route choice and deviations were spatially integrated into the map. A total of 304 blood samples were collected from slaughtered livestock in October and November 2021. Most (99%) of animals were purchased from 28 different markets across eight counties in Western Kenya. The overall RVFV seroprevalence was 9% (19% cattle, 3% in sheep, and 7% in goats). Migori County bordering Tanzania had the highest county-level seroprevalence (34%) and 80% of all seropositive cattle were purchased at the Suba Kuria market in Migori County. Road quality and animal health influenced stakeholders' decisions for choice of transport means. Overall, this proof-of-concept study offers a sampling framework for RVFV that can be locally implemented and rapidly deployed in response to regional risk. This system can be used in conjunction with participatory maps to improve active livestock surveillance and monitoring of RVFV in Western Kenya, and these methods could be extrapolated to other urban centers or livestock diseases.
How Should US Health Care Lead Global Change in Plastic Waste Disposal?
The AMA Journal of Ethic · 2022 · 39 citations
Senior authorCorresponding- Political Science
- Business
- Environmental planning
and oceans also undermine global health equity by adversely affecting the health of vulnerable communities. While the United Kingdom works toward circular health care economy streams that produce minimal waste, the United States continues to amplify downstream environmental and health effects of health care organizational waste management decisions. This article suggests how to reframe social and ethical responsibility for health care waste production and management by assigning strict accountability to health care organizational leaders, incentivizing circular supply chain implementation and maintenance, and encouraging strong collaborations across medical, plastic, and waste industries.
Climate change and global health: A call to more research and more action
Allergy · 2022 · 156 citations
- Political Science
- Political Science
- Economic growth
There is increasing understanding, globally, that climate change and increased pollution will have a profound and mostly harmful effect on human health. This review brings together international experts to describe both the direct (such as heat waves) and indirect (such as vector-borne disease incidence) health impacts of climate change. These impacts vary depending on vulnerability (i.e., existing diseases) and the international, economic, political, and environmental context. This unique review also expands on these issues to address a third category of potential longer-term impacts on global health: famine, population dislocation, and environmental justice and education. This scholarly resource explores these issues fully, linking them to global health in urban and rural settings in developed and developing countries. The review finishes with a practical discussion of action that health professionals around the world in our field can yet take.
Characterization and regulation of microplastic pollution for protecting planetary and human health
Environmental Pollution · 2022 · 129 citations
- Environmental science
- Waste management
- Environmental health
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology · 2020 · 16 citations
- Geography
- Environmental planning
- Archaeology
Abstract Modelling of emerging vector borne diseases serves as an important complement to clinical studies of modern zoonoses. This article presents an archaeo‐historic epidemiological modelling study of Rift Valley fever (RVF), using data‐driven neural network technology. RVF affects both human and animal populations, can rapidly decimate herds causing catastrophic economic hardship, and is identified as a Category A biodefense pathogen by the US Center for Disease Control. Despite recent origins circa the early 1900s, little is known about the circumstances of its inception nor the relationships between factors that affect transmission. This evidence could be vital as the disease continues to expand from its epicentre in Kenya to other parts of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. RVF is a relevant case for archaeological/palaeopathological investigations of disease as it intersects between numerous human, animal, spatial, temporal, and sociopolitical dimensions. By integrating landscape archaeology, historical evidence, and climatic data, with evidence of human behaviour gathered through ethnoarchaeological study, this article presents an applied framework for human–animal palaeopathology. This framework aligns with the One Health approach that observes disease to be intrinsically tied to ecological and societal factors. We provide a useable alternative way of thinking about disease modelling in the present and the past, ultimately seeking to support efforts to accurately predict future impacts. Tapping into longitudinal evidence from the last 50–300 years offers a powerful way to respond to the threat zoonoses will pose to human populations around the world as the climate warms.
Frequent coauthors
- 4 shared
Michèle Barry
Center for Innovation
- 2 shared
Erika Veidis
Center for Innovation
- 1 shared
Elysse N. Grossi-Soyster
Stanford University
- 1 shared
Lisa Patel
Nova Southeastern University
- 1 shared
Vanitha Sampath
Harvard University
- 1 shared
Victoria Okuta
Kenya Medical Research Institute
- 1 shared
Juan Aguilera
- 1 shared
Aslam Khan
Stanford University
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