|
David Harris, Ph.D. |
June 2006
Dr. David E. Harris, Associate Professor of Natural and Applied Sciences at the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston-Auburn College, is participating in two important research projects focused on public health and nutrition.
Working with the New Brunswick Lung Association, Maine Lung Association, State of Maine, and the University of New Brunswick, Harris is a key collaborator in an effort titled “Mapping Infectious Disease Across the New Brunswick-Maine Border.” This project will construct a geographic information system with which public health officials, researchers, policy-makers and the public can view infectious disease information, map public health risks and make decisions regarding disease control measures in the case of a pandemic influenza (or similar disease) outbreak. This GIS will display as a seamless map of New Brunswick and Maine, and it will be web-accessible. This research is being funded through the National Spatial Data Infrastructure Cooperative Agreements Program: Joint Canadian and U.S. Spatial Data Infrastructure Project.
Harris is also working as a co-investigator in “Examination of the implementation and effects of the Maine state policy, Chapter 51, on high school nutrition environments and student dietary patterns.” This research effort will examine effects of Chapter 51 (recent state legislation that restricts the sale of “junk food” at schools) on high school nutrition policies, and on high school student dietary behaviors. Harris’ role in this project is to construct a geographic information system that analyses the impact of venues near high schools where soda and candy can be purchased on student dietary behavior. The principal investigator in this project is J. Whatley Blum, Sc.D., Associate Professor of Sports Medicine at USM. This research is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Harris, who earned his doctorate at the University of Vermont, teaches courses in human biology, including Anatomy & Physiology and Pathophysiology. His research interests also include the function of the cardiovascular system and he has collaborated with physicians at the Maine Veterans Administration Hospital to study the treatment of blood cholesterol levels in patients with coronary heart disease.
|
