Tick-Borne Disease Prevention

Sabine Jamal, M.D., MPH, serves as the Manager of Workforce Development within the Cornell Health Impacts Core in the Department of Public & Ecosystem Health at Cornell University. A UK National Health Service-trained emergency medicine physician, Dr. Jamal is experienced in public health consultancy, advocacy, research, and education. Her areas of expertise include education, curriculum design, and workforce development, with a strong focus on public health emergencies and emergency preparedness. Dr. Jamal’s approach to public health issues is evidence based and solutions focused, emphasizing health equity throughout all her projects.

Joellen Lampman is the Tick and School IPM Coordinator with the Cornell Integrated Pest Management Program at Cornell University. A lifelong environmental educator, Joellen holds a Bachelor’s in Natural Resources from Cornell University and a Master’s in Science Communication from Stony Brook University. At the Cornell IPM Program, she utilizes the clear, knowledge-based decision-making process of integrated pest management to teach ecology and make a difference, one property at a time. Joellen is also known as The Tick Lady.

Emily M. Mader is the Program Manager for the Northeast Regional Center for Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases (NEVBD) and Senior Extension Associate in the Cornell Department of Entomology. Emily earned Master of Public Health and Master of Public Policy degrees from the University of Utah in 2013. She is a public health researcher with specialization in program management and evaluation, strategic planning, and survey and qualitative research methods.

Emily regularly contributes to the development and delivery of NEVBD training initiatives designed to bolster the workforce capacity surrounding vector-borne disease prevention and control. She also serves as lead investigator on several community-engaged projects focused on the prevention of tick bites and tick-borne diseases.

Amelia Greiner Safi, Ph.D., is a Professor of Social and Behavioral Science and of Public Health Practice in the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health at Cornell University. Her interdisciplinary research takes a systems perspective and focuses on understanding individual and contextual drivers of human behavior, enabling responsive interventions that drive impact.

For tick-borne disease (TBD), Dr. Safi has worked with collaborators at the CDC-funded Northeast Regional Center for Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases Training and Evaluation Center( NEVBD-TEC), led by Dr. Laura Harrington, on four main areas:
– Understanding how rural adults in the Northeast perceive Lyme disease risks and their interests in/questions about a new Lyme disease vaccine
– Assessing what emergency medicine and urgent care providers understand about TBD in the U.S. to identify gaps and design responsive medical education
– Training the vector-borne disease (VBD) workforce on strategic communication, trust, and human behavior to enhance their impact
– Supporting VBD researchers new to social science in how to apply social and behavioral science methods and theory

Dr. Safi also works on preventing antimicrobial resistance in veterinary and animal agriculture, addressing cancer disparities in New York State, advancing rural health outcomes, and teaching social epidemiology and strategic public health communication for the Cornell MPH Program. Dr. Safi received her Ph.D. from the Department of Health, Behavior and Society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and her Master’s of Science in Risk and Science Communication from Cornell University.