EEB Graduate Student Elizabeth Blackmore Paper on Pathogen Spread Making Waves

Elizabeth Blackmore, a graduate student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, has made significant strides in understanding the historical spread of infectious diseases.  Her groundbreaking research, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and highlighted by Science, reveals surprising insights into the transoceanic movement of pathogens post-Columbus.  Blackmore’s work meticulously examines the barriers that infectious diseases faced in crossing oceans, challenging the conventional narrative that such diseases easily spread across continents following the advent of global exploration.

Her findings suggest that, contrary to popular belief, many infectious diseases encountered considerable difficulty in establishing themselves in new territories due to various ecological and biological factors.  This research not only sheds light on the historical dynamics of disease spread but also provides valuable perspectives for understanding current and future patterns of infectious disease transmission in our increasingly interconnected world.  Blackmore’s contributions underscore the complexity of disease ecology and highlight the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in unraveling these intricate patterns.