Health and Medical Geography

Flyer:  Spatial and Spatiotemporal Epidemiology at AAG 2014

Several sessions around the theme of spatial and spatiotemporal epidemiology will be organized at the coming 2014 AAG Annual Meeting in Tampa, Florida (April 8-12). The sessions focus on the development of spatial and spatiotemporal methodology to answer fundamental epidemiological questions. Sample topics include:

°Spatiotemporal modeling
°Geovisualization and geocomputation for big data
°Point pattern analysis and disease movement analysis
°Use of geospatial techniques in health (GPS, GIS)
°Preventing the spread of disease
°Accessibility to medical care, estimating travel impedance
°Modeling uncertainty

If you would like to contribute to this stream of sessions, please submit your abstract online (http://www.aag.org/cs/annualmeeting).

Email Tijs Neutens (Tijs.Neutens@UGent.be)
or Eric Delmelle (eric.delmelle@uncc.edu) the title, abstract, author information and AAG PIN by October 15 2013 to be included in one of the sessions.
Contact information
Tijs Neutens (Tijs.Neutens@UGent.be)
University of Ghent, Belgium

Eric Delmelle (eric.delmelle@uncc.edu)
University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Co-organizers:
Mei-Pwo Kwan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Antonio Paez, McMaster University, Canada
Debarchana Ghosh, University of Connecticut
Gerry Rushton, University of Iowa
Elisabeth Dowling Root, University of Colorado at Boulder
John DeGroote, University of Northern Iowa
Xun Shi, Dartmouth University
Chris Uejio, Florida State University
Brian Bossak, Florida Gulf Coast University

The Health and Medical Geography Specialty Group is pleased to announce our co-sponsor of the Environment Justice session at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers.  We would like to thank the leaders of this specialty group for inviting us to participate in their very relevant paper session!

2014 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers
April 8-12, Tampa, Florida

This session will be co-sponsored by the Cultural and Political Ecology Specialty Group, Hazards, Risks, and Disasters Specialty Group, and the Health and Medical Geography Specialty Group.

Organizers:
Jayajit Chakraborty, University of South Florida, jchakrab@usf.edu
Timothy Collins, University of Texas at El Paso, twcollins@utep.edu
Sara Grineski, University of Texas at El Paso, segrineski@utep.edu

Description: Environmental Justice (EJ) research seeks to document and address the disproportionate environmental health and risk burdens borne by racial/ethnic minorities and individuals of lower socioeconomic status. Although its initial focus was on environmental hazards and pollution, the scope of EJ research has now expanded to encompass everything that is unsustainable about the world, including rampant industrialization, resource depletion, energy use, consumption patterns, food systems, and inequitable public policies that adversely affect minority, indigenous, and low-income communities, other vulnerable groups such as immigrants and people with disabilities, and future generations. In a context of intensifying social and environmental inequalities, there is a growing need to further strengthen this research framework and continue diversifying its themes.

This paper session intends to provide a forum for conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and empirical scholarship on EJ. We welcome qualitative and quantitative case studies, reviews of the literature, critical evaluations of methods and tools, comparative analyses, and discussions of future research needs that focus on any aspect of EJ. Paper topics may include, but are not limited to, the following EJ issues:

•  technological hazards and risks, such as air pollution, hazardous waste, and        undesirable land uses;
•  natural disasters and hazards, such as hurricanes and floods;
•  adverse health outcomes, such as cancer and respiratory illnesses;
•  environmental amenities, such as parks, playgrounds, and street trees;
•  environmental laws, regulations, and policies;
•  access to affordable and nutritious food;
•  climate change; and
•  transportation systems and policies.

Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be submitted to any one of the session organizers by November 18, 2013. Accepted submissions will be contacted by November 26, 2013, and expected to register and submit their abstracts online at the AAG website by December 3, 2013.