Hope everyone’s year is off to a great start. This is our first Hub Digest of 2025! We are looking forward to experiencing and sharing all that is to come in 2025, beginning with these updates from the past month.
Hub User Spotlight
Our first spotlight of the year is Dr. Jennifer Cole, a senior lecturer in global and planetary health at Royal Holloway University of London in the UK. She is also the co-director of CLIMAR, a research network that studies the relationship between climate change and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through a planetary health lens, and co-chair of the Planetary Health Alliance European Hub Education Working Group.
What are your interests? My main research interest is health risks from infectious disease, with a focus on antimicrobial resistance, particularly when the resistant bacteria are spread through animal-sourced food. The resistance often emerges due to poor animal welfare practices that cause and exacerbate disease risk, such as poor hygiene, overcrowding, and stress in intensive livestock systems, but the health impact is felt in human health in the form of resistant infections that can’t be treated. This is one of the many reasons it would be better for people to follow the planetary health diet which encourages a drastic reduction in the amount of animal-sourced protein in most diets.
What are you working on that most excites you? I’m currently working on a number of linked projects in East Africa, many of which include members of the Planetary Health Eastern African Hub, to improve the ways in which Global North research funding can support the Global South. A lot of money is currently wasted because funders make assumptions about how projects should work that aren’t practical on the ground. We have been highlighting these and working to overcome them with our East African partners, particularly the University of Eldoret, Kenya.
What do you welcome Hub users to connect with you about? I would love to connect with academics across the world working on the spread of AMR through food systems and how to improve animal welfare so that disease is less common. And anyone reading this is welcome to join the CLIMAR Network — there’s a sign-up sheet on the website.
Special Request: Please Update Your Profile
Please help us populate our members’ map and forge new connections among users by updating your profile with your state or province and country. While you’re at it, add your areas of expertise, interests, and passions so other users can learn more about you. You can find these fields in the “Required” and “Optional” areas of your profile.
In Discussions
- Research suggests sharing our gut microbiome with family and friends could potentially be sharing our risk for non-communicable diseases as well.
- Researchers have estimated the contribution that leaded gas made to the likelihood of developing a mental disorder. How can we combat further health risks of heavy metal exposure through food, water, and air?
- A reminder of former United States Attorney General Vivek Murthy’s parting message to all Americans: choose community.
- A ChangeLab Solutions resource for changemakers focuses on promoting equitable outcomes through law and policy.
- On the microbiome topic: Join the discussion about the Netflix documentary, Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut.
…and many more in the Discussions page!
In Groups
- Children’s Health and Well-being – Searching for solutions to a rising tide of concern among parents regarding their kids’ inability to focus, regulate emotions, and control energy levels.
- Conscious and regenerative food systems – See Kate Rudd’s lessons learned from developing a cross-cultural, global curriculum on regenerative food systems.
- Microbes and Social Equity – Check out the new 2025 Microbes and Social Equity speaker series, plus other online offerings.
- Artists in Residence – Push back against life’s demands and make art like Sue Ishaq did! See her latest paintings.
- Attitudes, Values, Ethics, and Culture – Beautiful images from the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) and a bit on its history courtesy of Mona El-Sherbini.
…check out all the Groups (or create your own)!
Events
- ICYMI: Recordings of the 2024 Nova Annual Conference, “New Horizons: Toward an Era of Global Flourishing” are now available. Watch and share each session in its entirety or by speaker. Happy viewing!
See events and submit your own on our Community Calendar!
Hub Features & User Tips
- Tip for engagement: Tap into the great minds here on the Hub! Post your requests for information, research help, articles, etc., in a relevant group or discussion topic, or directly to your profile as a status update.
- Invite friends to join the Hub! Click on your profile photo, navigate down to “Email Invites,” and click “Send Invites.” Customize a message or just send the link – it’s easy!
- Just getting started on the Hub? Check out the Hub User Guide to watch a video or get step-by-step instructions.
Thank you again for being part of our community. We’d love to hear from you! Let us know how you like using the Hub, share your ideas and suggestions, or just say hello! Message Airynn Strout or Tolu Adewole on the Hub or email us at airynn@novainstituteforhealth.org or tolu@novainstituteforhealth.org.
Responses