Program for Global Health Research Group

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

Our Work

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.

Capone D, Chigwechokha P, de los Reyes III FL, Holm RH, Risk B, Tilley E, Brown J. Impact of sampling depth on enteric pathogen detection in pit latrines. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 2021;15(3):e0009176.
Holm RH, Chunga BA, Mallory A, Parker A, Hutchings P. A qualitative study of NIMBYism for waste in smaller urban areas of a low-income country, Mzuzu, Malawi. Environmental Health Insights 2021;15:1-11.
Holm RH, Hall RP, Muthukrishnan S, Munthali T, Sinda, M. Promoting multiple-use water services for smallholder rice farmer cooperative members in Karonga District, Malawi. International Journal of Water Resources Development 2021;37(2):321–338.
McClary-Gutierrez J S, Aanderud ZT, Al-faliti M, Duvallet C, Gonzalez R, Guzman J, Holm RH.... and Vela JD. Standardizing data reporting in the research community to enhance the utility of open data for SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology 2021;7:1545–1551.
Holm RH, Chakalamba T, Ngasama B, Kapute K. Geographic and occupational mobility of small-scale fishers of Lake Malawi: an exploratory study of water, sanitation, and hygiene access, Malawi. Water Policy 2021;23(4):897–911.
Holm RH, Tembo M, Kasulo V, Gavanala MB, Chilongo L. Institutional, technical and financial sustainability of rural piped drinking water supply on a freshwater island: Case study of Likoma Island, Malawi. Lakes & Reservoirs: Research & Management 2022;27(2):e12403.
Chunga, BA, Mkwambisi D, Workman CL, de los Reyes III FL, Holm RH. Educating sanitation professionals: moving from STEM to specialist training in higher education in Malawi. Waterlines 2022;41:1–13.
Naughton CC, Holm RH, Lin N J, James BP, Smith T. Online dashboards for SARS-CoV-2 wastewater data need standard best practices: an environmental health communication agenda. Journal of Water and Health 2023;21(5):615–624.
Keshaviah A, Diamond MB, Wade MJ, Scarpino SV, Global Wastewater Action Group. Wastewater monitoring can anchor global disease surveillance systems. Lancet Glob Health 2023;11:e976–81.
Holm RH, Osborne Jelks N, Schneider R, Smith T. Beyond COVID-19: Designing inclusive public health surveillance by including wastewater monitoring. Health Equity 2023;7.1:377–379.
Holm RH, Pocock G, Severson MA, Huber VC, Smith T, McFadden LM. Using wastewater to overcome health disparities among rural residents. Geoforum 2023;144;103816.
Smith SK, Risk BB, Holm RH, Tilley E, Chigwechokha P, Capone D, Brown J, de los Reyes III FL. Microbial community function and bacterial pathogen composition in pit latrines in peri-urban Malawi. PLOS Water 2023;2(10):e0000171.
Holm RH, Nyirenda R, Smith T, Chigwechokha P. Addressing the challenges of establishing quality wastewater or non-sewered sanitation-based surveillance, including laboratory and epidemiological considerations, in Malawi. BMJ Global Health 2023;8:e013307.
Chigwechokha P, Nyirenda R, Dalitsan D, Namaumbo RL, Kazembe Y, Smith T, Holm RH. Vibrio cholerae and Salmonella Typhi culture-based wastewater or non-sewered sanitation surveillance in a resource-limited region. Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology 2024;34(3):432-439
Hodge B, Holm RH. Where Does Wastewater-Based Epidemiology Fall in Medical Student Education? Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development 2024;11:1–2.
Chigwechokha P, Street R, Holm RH. Advancing the use of fecal sludge for timelier and better-quality epidemiological data in low- and middle-income countries for pandemic prevention. Environmental Science Water Research & Technology 2022. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c07788
Gadson A, Holm RH. Environmental health justice across the globe. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2023; 63–64.
Holm RH, Chigwechokha P, Kinnear C, Winters A, Street R. Promoting surveillance in sub-Saharan Africa: moving to wastewater and environmental genomic surveillance requires more attention. ACS ES&T Water 2023;3(8):1994–6.
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.