Korine Kolivras, Assistant Professor of Geography, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA. Korine s expertise is in the area of environment and health, and emerging infectious diseases. Her research connects human and physical geography with the ways in which environmental variability and human behavior affect disease emergence. Korine served on the board of the HMGSG during the years 2006-2008 and 2010-2012.
Korine Kolivras received her BA degree in geography (with minors in Spanish and anthropology) from Shippensburg University, and a master s (2000) and Ph.D. (2004) in geography (with a minor in epidemiology) from the University of Arizona. Her dissertation work examined social and environmental aspects of the 2001-2002 dengue outbreak in Hawaii. Her work modeling mosquito habitat and dengue risk potential across the islands resulted in her selection as a finalist for the AAG s Nystrom Award.
At Virginia Tech, she has begun investigating health issues and help-seeking behaviors in a Dominican shantytown located near a tourist enclave with Virginia Tech colleague Joseph Scarpaci. Their research, funded by the American Geographical Society, will expand to include a similar shantytown in Haiti, and more broadly evaluate issues of water quality and sanitation as they relate to health.
Korine teaches Introduction to Human Geography, Medical Geography, and a graduate seminar entitled Health and the Global Environment. She will also be teaching in the Dominican Republic as part of the university s study abroad program, with a focus on the human geography of the Caribbean. Korine s research has been published in the International Journal of Biometeorology, The Professional Geographer, Progress in Physical Geography, and Risk Analysis (in press). Korine employs a variety of methods in her research, including GIS, statistics, and interviews and surveys.
Korine may be reached at korine@vt.edu, and more information is available at her website ( http://www.cnr.vt.edu/korine ).
Updated: October 2006
Health and Medical Geography 