Katharina Kreppel
Belgium, Antwerpen
Head of Emerging Infectious Diseases at Institute of Tropical Medicine
Profession: Head of Division/Unit
Industry: Healthcare, Life Sciences
About:
Ms Kreppel is an epidemiologist specialized in emerging infectious disease and the One Health approach. She has vast experience in disease vector ecology & zoonotic disease epidemiology, incl. modeling the impact of the environment on risk factors for transmission. As former Afrique-One ASPIRE program training coordinator, she specialized in using One Health to research zoonotic infections and arboviroses. Her current research focuses on rodent borne diseases and arboviroses, mainly in Africa.
Expertise:
Experience:
Institute of Tropical Medicine
Head of Emerging Infectious Diseases at Institute of Tropical Medicine
January 2021 - Present • Antwerpen, Belgium
All over the world infectious diseases are emerging or re-emerging at an increasing rate. Many of these infections are zoonotic, and it is time for scientists from different fields to work together, but does a One Health approach always work? Our unit at ITM is looking into vector borne and rodent borne diseases with collaborators in Tanzania, DRC, Cuba, South Africa, and Côte d’Ivoire. We are investigating the “when and where” of pathogen transmission of dengue virus, mpox, rift valley fever and rickettsia with multidisciplinary teams. Once we know the risk factors, we can start thinking of interventions, but it is not always straight forward, and a One Health approach usually comes with surprises. Let me introduce you to some of our projects with their challenges and surprising outcomes.