Program for Global Health Research Group
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About
The Program for Global Health Research (PGHR) aims to build a successful and sustainable global health research and training program that will serve as a model for healthier communities in low-resource environments. Sitting within the School Medicine, the Program additionally works transdisciplinary to serve as an educational resource for the School of Public Health, College of Arts and Sciences and the Speed School of Engineering as it trains medical, public health, engineering, social science and geography students. The PGHR also fits the mission of the University of Louisville and the Grand Challenges aim to advance health, empower communities, and engineer the future economy through discoveries that will build a better world.
Specific aims are:
1. Promote interdisciplinary collaborative research in current and new areas of global health research.
2. Connect medical, public health, engineering, social science and geography students with international field research to assist in translation of low-resource research findings.
The PGHR is based in Malawi, Africa. The Program Director, Dr. Rochelle Holm, is currently based in Malawi, and has led global health research in Malawi for more than a decade.
Key Research Areas
- Wastewater-based epidemiology
- Global health
- Water
- Sanitation
- Hygiene
- Water quality
- Global health
- Low-resource settings
- Africa
Team
- Dr. Rochelle H. Holm, Center for Healthy Air, Water and Soil, Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, School of Medicine, University of Louisville, 302 E. Muhammad Ali Blvd., Louisville, KY 40202, United States, rochelle.holm@louisville.edu, 502-852-5873
Current Projects
Current research is focused on multi-pathogen wastewater surveillance in Malawi from primer/probe development to publication of laboratory findings for scale-up in other low- and middle-income countries. Since 2022, we have been funded forsampling on a weekly basis funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, Eurofins Foundation, NSF and Ellis Foundation.
Current Publications
Sheth P, Graves D, Nadakal S, Street R, Chigwechokha P, Hodge B, Holm RH. Conflict, enteric disease burden, infrastructure, and policy to guide targeted deployment of wastewater surveillance in low- and middle-income countries. Public Health Reports 2026;141(2):225–234.
Anderson LB, Holm RH, Black C, Biddle DJ, Chiu WA, Bhatnagar A, Smith T. An Environmental Vulnerability Index framework supporting targeted public health interventions at the census tracts level. Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology 2026;36(1):77–88.
Gasparetto RL, Bickel S, Yin X, Smith T, Bhatnagar A, Holm RH, Zhang X. Targeted LC-MS/MS method for quantifying respiratory pharmaceuticals in wastewater. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology 2026;12:554–562.
Alameh S, Holm RH, Chigwechokha P, Chunga BA, Hoover AG. Integrating wastewater surveillance into science education: implementing the 5e learning cycle and storyline approach in rural schools. School Science and Mathematics 2026.
Satterly S, Black C, Holm RH, Smith T. A population-centered health framework for analyzing superfund sites with a history of volatile organic compound contamination. Community Health Equity Research and Policy 2026.
Niven CG, Clark B, Floess E, Chirwa B, Matekenya M, Budden E, Cadono S, Chavula J, Chisamanga V, Dzinkambani A, Kaponda C, Ngondo N, Patterson N, Symon S, Chunga BA, Holm RH, Chigwechokha P, de Los Reyes III FL, Workman CL, Harris AR, Ercumen A. Associations between water supply intermittencies and drinking water quality, child health, and caregiver emotional stress in peri-urban Malawi. Environmental Science & Technology 2026.
Shackelford BB, Chigwechokha P, Ziba L, Misomali C, Kanjiru M, Buleya P, Nyirenda RL, Wolfe MK, Holm RH. Surveillance of Vibrio cholerae in a non-sewered sanitation refugee camp setting using culture methods: Dzaleka camp, Malawi. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology 2026.
Cai L, Holm RH, Biddle DJ, Zhang CH, Talley D, Smith T, States JC. Wastewater-based surveillance for community exposome surveillance, Louisville, Kentucky. Discover Water 2026;6:57.
Wurtzler E, Barnell E, Morrison C, Grass C, DuPre NC, Biddle DJ, Jin A, Kavalukas S, Holm RH, Smith TR. Using wastewater for population-level colorectal cancer surveillance: a future research agenda. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 2026.
Holm RH, Bullard Dunn K, Bumpous JM. Beyond the city limits: The critical value of rural and remote medical education experiences. Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development 2026.
Shackelford BB, Berendes D, Handzel T, Schweitzer R, Murphy J, Chigwechokha P, Chauma A, Holm RH. Possibilities and limitations for conducting wastewater and environmental surveillance in refugee camps. American Journal of Public Health 2026.
Rangel A, Anderson L, Holm RH, Smith T. Resident odor reports and differing health outcomes in areas of high industrial emission odor, Louisville, Kentucky. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action. Accepted, in-press.
Abu-Khalil AS, Wurcel AG, Smith TR, Ching C, Kariyil MJ, Muhvich J, Nahum Y, Holm RH, Zaman MH. Ethical considerations for wastewater and environmental surveillance in carceral settings: building a framework to guide public health interventions. American Journal of Public Health. Accepted, in-press.
Nkambule S, Omulo S, Baraka V, Mware B, Nsawotebba A, Mulenga CSA, Mabasa VV, Truyens CS, Holm RH. Advancing ethical wastewater and environmental surveillance for public health in Africa. The Lancet Regional Health – Africa 2026.
Gutta MS, Zhuhadar LP, Williamson MG, Bhatia B, Labreveux M, Elmaghraby AS, McGinley WM, Webb C, Atre SV, Sunkara M, Holm RH, Smith T. Optimizing place-based data infrastructure siting: balancing energy, environment, and communities. ACS ES&T Water 2026:6(2):554–557.
Keith R, Willis S, Christian N, Khayat F, Gallagher J, Gunter WS, Kachanova J, Mehring A, Pigg R, Proctor D, Smith AE. Evaluating Microclimate Modification and Acute Cardiovascular Stress Responses to a Dense Urban Microforest: The Green Oasis (GRO) Protocol. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2026 Mar 13;23(3):365.
Emerson MO, Anderson L, Arthur J, Seay N, Smith T. Health and the Right to Universal Basic Neighborhoods. The Milbank Quarterly. 2026 Mar;104(1):171-97.
Clarke K, Anderson L, Gadson A, Holm RH, Kolers A, Smith T. A case study of ethical bridges: Wastewater-based epidemiology in the Rubbertown Air Toxics and Health Assessment (RATHA) project. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology 2025;11:1363–1368.
Jeboda D, Shackelford BB, Chigwechokha PK, Chunga B, Ercumen A, Workman C, Hart J, Smith TR, Holm RH. Public opinions from Malawian and Malawi refugee camp residents of wastewater and environmental surveillance. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2025;113(1):200–213.
Holm RH, Chigwechokha PK, Strike WD, Nyirenda RL, Tandwe C, Noble A, Keck J, Berry S. Multi-pathogen wastewater surveillance in Malawi: An assessment of culture-based, RT-PCR, and long-read metagenomics methods with multiple ongoing outbreaks. Science of The Total Environment 2025;992:179946.
Boyina K, Holm RH, Samarasinghe H, Chigwechokha PK, Smith T, Cosgrove JR, Gushgari AJ. Private sector involvement in wastewater-based epidemiology: a scoping review. Discover Water 2025;5:84.
Truyens CS, Berendes DM, Cantrell ME, Kossik AL, McCarthy KM, Mehrotra AS, Murphy JL, Pillay S, Raj SJ, Ramaswamy MS, Yakubu H, Holm RH. Advancing wastewater and environmental surveillance in LMICs for public health response and SDG data gaps. npj clean water 2025;8:95.
Darracq A, Bliznick C, Yeager R, Turner J, Prathiba P, Pease J, Whiteman H, Smith T, Bhatnagar A. Air pollution and greenness independently and interactively influence bird communities in an urban neighborhood. Conservation Science and Practice. 2025 Oct;7(10):e70147.
Delgado Vela J, Philo SE, Brown J, Taniuchi M, Cantrell M, Kossik A, Ramaswamy M, Ajjampur SS, Guerfali FZ, Holm RH, et al. Moving beyond Wastewater: Perspectives on Environmental Surveillance of Infectious Diseases for Public Health Action in Low-Resource Settings. Environment & Health. 2024.