Associate Professor Aparna Lal
BSc (Hons) Zoology, MSc (Wildlife Science), PhD (Public Health)
Fellow, Environment, Climate and Health, Research School of Population Health
ANU College of Health and Medicine
Areas of expertise
- Public Health And Health Services 1117
- Human Geography Not Elsewhere Classified 160499
- Environmental Epidemiology 420203
Biography
I have an undergraduate degree in Zoology and then went on to do a Postgraduate Diploma in Wildlife Management in New Zealand and a Master’s degree in Wildlife Science in India when I spent 6 months following chasing green turtles and setting up grazing experiments in the Indian Ocean. Interviewing villagers living on the edge of India’s protected Tiger Reserves made me start thinking about disease transmission between wild animals, livestock and humans who live in close proximity to animals. This led me to do my PhD at the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago (New Zealand), graduating in 2014. I then moved to the ANU, where I now work with a team of brilliant students and research associates in the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health.
My research focuses on how the physical environment, broadly defined, impacts human health and well-being. My projects combine public health surveillance with remote sensing, and land and water quality monitoring data to quantify, monitor and understand the processes that shape disease patterns. We use a wide range of techniques to examine research questions, with a focus on spatial models and temporal approaches to predict disease patterns in response to environmental change.
I teach into three programs. I convene the Master of Public Health course on Human Health, Environment and Climate Change and lecture into the Master of Demography and Master of Philosophy (Applied Epidemiology) programs.
Available student projects
Projects are developed in consultation with interested students. Current student projects on offer include developing health risk maps for waterborne disease, in relation to environmental management of Australia’s water resources, the association between past climate and zoonotic disease outbreaks in Australia and New Zealand, examining spatial variation and quantifying the impact of socioeconomic, health care access and environmental factors on disease risk and the health risks associated with climatic extremes.
Current student projects
I have supervised 10 Masters students, two Honours, two ANU Medical School students and 1 PhD candidate to completion.
Current student Projects include:
- Ms. Cynthia Parayiwa: "Cyclones, Maternal stress and foetal outcomes in Queensland". PhD candidate.
- Mr Ripon Kumar Adhikary: "Spatial and seasonal changes in water quality and links to health and well-being”. PhD candidate.
- Ms Rose-Marie Anderson: "Infectious didesseas and climate change in Pacific Island Countries". PhD candidate.
- Mr Jack Grentell and Ms Neisha Burton: "Water and health risks". ANU Medical students
Publications
- Lowe, C, Kurscheid, J, Lal, A et al. 2021, 'Health Risk Assessment for Exposure to Nitrate in Drinking Water in Central Java, Indonesia', International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 18, no. 5.
- Forbes, O, Hosking, R, Mokany, K et al. 2021, 'Bayesian spatio-temporal modelling to assess the role of extreme weather, land use change and socio-economic trends on cryptosporidiosis in Australia, 2001–2018', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 791.
- Wangdi, K, XU, S, Suwannatrai, A et al. 2020, 'A spatio-temporal analysis to identify the drivers of malaria transmission in Bhutan', Scientific Reports, vol. 2020, pp. 1-10.
- Kinyoki, D, Ross, J, Lazzar-Atwood, A et al. 2020, 'Mapping local patterns of childhood overweight and wasting in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017', Nature Medicine, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 750-759.
- Reiner, R, Wiens, K, Deshpande, A et al. 2020, 'Mapping geographical inequalities in childhood diarrhoeal morbidity and mortality in low-income and middle-income countries, 2000-17: analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017', The Lancet, vol. 395, no. 10239, pp. 1779-1801.
- Davies, S, Konings, P & Lal, A 2020, 'Spatial analysis of the neighborhood risk factors for respiratory health in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT): Implications for emergency planning', International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 17, no. 17, pp. 1-17.
- McEwen, S, Kaczmarek , M, Hundy, R et al. 2020, 'Comparison of heat-illness associations estimated with different temperature metrics in the Australian Capital Territory, 2006-2016', International Journal of Biometeorology, vol. 64, no. 12, pp. 1985-1994.
- Lal, A, Swaminathan, A & Holani, T 2020, 'Spatial clusters of Clostridium difficile infection and an association with neighbourhood socio-economic disadvantage in the Australian Capital Territory, 2004-2014', Infection, Disease & Health, vol. 25, pp. 3-10.
- Lal, A & Hargreaves, J 2020, 'An epidemiologic approach to environmental monitoring: cyanobacteria in Australia's Murray-Darling basin', Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, vol. 34, no. 7, pp. 949-958.
- Vardoulakis, S, Sheel, M, Lal, A et al. 2020, 'COVID-19 environmental transmission and preventive public health measures', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, vol. Online.
- Lal, A, Lucas, R & Slatyer, A 2020, 'Water access as a required public health intervention to fight COVID-19 in the Pacific Islands', The Lancet Regional Health. Western Pacific, vol. 1.
- Lal, A, Patel, M, Hunter, A et al. 2020, 'Towards resilient health systems for increasing climate extremes: insights from the 2019-20 Australian bushfire season', International Journal of Wildland Fire, 30(1):1-5.
- Robins, L, Crimp, S, van Wensveen, M et al. 2020, COVID-19 and food systems in the Indo-Pacific: An assessment of vulnerabilities, impacts and opportunities for action. ACIAR Technical Report No. 96. Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Canberra.
- Bagheri, N, Konings, P, Wangdi, K et al. 2019, 'Identifying hotspots of type 2 diabetes risk using general practice data and geospatial analysis: an approach to inform policy and practice', Australian Journal of Primary Health, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 43-51.
- Lal, A, Fearnley, E & Wilford, E 2019, 'Local weather, flooding history and childhood diarrhoea caused by the parasite Cryptosporidium spp.: A systematic review and meta-analysis', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 674, pp. 300-306.
- Schnitter, R, Verret, M, Berry, P et al 2019, 'An assessment of climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation in dominica', International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 1-17.
- Lal, A, Marshall, J, Benschop, J et al 2018, 'A Bayesian spatio-temporal framework to identify outbreaks and examine environmental and social risk factors for infectious diseases monitored by routine surveillance', Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology, vol. 25, pp. 39-48.
- Fearnley, E, Lal, A, Bates, J et al. 2018, 'Salmonella source attribution in a subtropical state of Australia: capturing environmental reservoirs of infection', Epidemiology and Infection, vol. 146, no. 15, pp. 1903-1908pp.
- Vette, K, Bareja, C, Clark, R et al 2018, 'Establishing thresholds and parameters for pandemic influenza severity assessment, Australia', Bulletin of the World Health Organization, vol. 96, no. 8, pp. 558-567.
- Lal, A & Konings, P 2018, 'Beyond reasonable drought: Hotspots reveal a link between the 'Big Dry' and cryptosporidiosis in Australia's Murray Darling Basin', Journal of Water and Health, vol. 16, no. 6, pp. 1033-1037.
- Lal, A & Konings, P 2018, 'Beyond reasonable drought: hotspots reveal a link between the ˜Big Dry" and cryptosporidiosis in Australia's Murray Darling Basin', Journal of Water and Health, pp. 1-5.
- Wardell, R, Clements, A, Lal, A et al. 2017, 'An environmental assessment and risk map of Ascaris lumbricoides and Necator americanus distributions in Manufahi District, Timor-Leste', PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 1-19pp.
- Williamson , C, Madronich, S, Lal, A et al. 2017, 'Climate change-induced increases in precipitation are reducing the potential for solar ultraviolet radiation to inactivate pathogens in surface waters', Scientific Reports, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 13033 (12pp).
- Lal, A, Hashizume, M & Hales, S 2017, 'Indian Ocean Dipole and Cryptosporidiosis in Australia: Short-Term and Nonlinear Associations', Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 51, no. 14, pp. 8119-8127pp..
- Vos, T, Allen, C, Arora, M et al. 2016, 'Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 310 diseases and injuries, 1990-2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015', Lancet, The (UK edition), vol. 388, no. 10053, pp. 1545-1602.
- Lim, S, Allen, K, Dandona, L et al. 2016, 'Measuring the health-related Sustainable Development Goals in 188 countries: a baseline analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015', Lancet, The (UK edition), vol. 388, no. 10053, pp. 1813-1850.
- Ford, L, Glass, K, Veitch, M et al. 2016, 'Increasing Incidence of Salmonella in Australia, 2000-2013', PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science), vol. 11, no. 10, pp. 1-11pp.
- Lal, A 2016, 'Spatial Modelling tools to integrate public health and environmental science, illustrated with infectious cryptosporidiosis', International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 186-186.
- Lal, A, Hales, S, Kirk, M et al 2016, 'Spatial and temporal variation in the association between temperature and salmonellosis in NZ', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 165-169.
- Lal, A, Dobbins, T, Bagheri, N et al 2016, 'Cryptosporidiosis Risk in New Zealand Children Under 5 Years Old is Greatest in Areas with High Dairy Cattle Densities', EcoHealth, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 652-660pp.
- Wang, H, Naghavi, M, Allen, C et al 2016, 'Global, regional, and national life expectancy, all-cause mortality, and cause-specific mortality for 249 causes of death, 1980-2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015', Lancet, The (UK edition), vol. 388, no. 10053, pp. 1459-1544pp.
- Lal, A, Cornish, L, Fearnley, E et al. 2015, 'Cryptosporidiosis: A Disease of Tropical and Remote Areas in Australia', PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, vol. 9, no. 9, pp. -.
- Lal, A, Lil, A, Mcintyre, M et al 2015, 'Environmental change and enteric zoonoses in New Zealand: a systematic review of the evidence', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 63-68.
- Lal, A, Fearnley, E & Kirk, M 2015, 'The Risk of Reported Cryptosporidiosis in Children Aged < 5 Years in Australia is Highest in Very Remote Regions', International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 12, no. 9, pp. 11815-11828.
- Conlan, J & Lal, A 2015, 'Socioeconomic burden of foodborne parasites', in Alvin Gajadhar (ed.), Foodborne Parasites in the Food Supply Web: Occurrence and Control, Woodhead Publishing_Elsevier, Cambridge, pp. 75-98.
- Lal, A & Hales, S 2015, 'Heterogeneity in hotspots: spatio-temporal patterns in neglected parasitic diseases', Epidemiology and Infection, vol. 143, no. 3, pp. 631-639.
- Lal, A, Ikeda, T, French, N et al 2013, 'Climate Variability, Weather and Enteric Disease Incidence in New Zealand: Time Series Analysis', PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science), vol. 8, no. 12, pp. 1-11.
- Lal, A, Baker, M, Hales, S et al 2013, 'Potential effects of global environmental changes on cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis transmission', Trends in Parasitology, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 83-90.
- Thomas Lill, A, Schallenberg, M, Lal, A et al 2013, 'Isolation and connectivity: Relationships between periodic connection to the ocean and environmental variables in intermittently closed estuaries', Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, vol. 128, pp. 76-83.
- Paterson, R, Lal, A, Dale, M et al 2013, 'Relative competence of native and exotic fish hosts for two generalist native trematodes', International Journal for Parasitology:Parasites and Wildlife, vol. 2, pp. 136-143.
- Lal, A, Baker, M, French, N et al 2012, 'The epidemiology of human salmonellosis in New Zealand, 1997-2008', Epidemiology and Infection, vol. 140, no. 9, pp. 1685-1694.
- Lal, A, Hales, S, French, N et al 2012, 'Seasonality in human zoonotic enteric diseases: A systematic review', PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science), vol. 7, no. 4, pp. e31883-e31883.
- Lil, A, Lal, A & Closs, G 2010, 'Life history and reproduction of two abundant mysids (Mysidacea: Mysidae) in an intermittently open New Zealand estuary', Marine and Freshwater Research, vol. 61, no. 6, pp. 633-641.
- Lal, A, Arthur, R, Marbà , N et al 2010, 'Implications of conserving an ecosystem modifier: Increasing green turtle (Chelonia mydas) densities substantially alters seagrass meadows', Biological Conservation, vol. 143, no. 11, pp. 2730-2738.
Projects and Grants
Grants information is drawn from ARIES. To add or update Projects or Grants information please contact your College Research Office.
- Environment-health linkages for healthy rivers, Country and people (Primary Investigator)
- Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) Epidemiological Study - Phase II (Secondary Investigator)
