Dickson Despommier
| Dickson D. Despommier | |
|---|---|
Dickson Despommier (2014).
|
|
| Born |
June 5, 1940 New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Citizenship | American |
| Fields |
parasitology ecology |
| Institutions | Columbia University Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health and Department of Microbiology, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences |
| Alma mater |
Columbia University, Medical Parasitology |
| Thesis | The in vivo and in vitro analysis of acquired resistance to Trichinella spiralis infections in mice. (1967) |
| Known for | Vertical Farming Medical Ecology of West Nile Virus Urban Sustainable Agricultural Initiatives Emerging Infectious Disease Ecology The Trichinella Page Medica Ecology The Vertical Farm |
| Influenced | René Dubos, Miklos Muller, Vincent Racaniello |
| Notable awards | American Medical Student Association National Teaching Award 2003 |
Columbia University, Medical Parasitology
Dickson D. Despommier (born June 5, 1940) is an emeritus professor of microbiology and Public Health at Columbia University. From 1971-2009, he conducted research on intracellular parasitism and taught courses on parasitic diseases, medical ecology and ecology. In recent years, Despommier has received considerable media coverage for his ideas on vertical farming. He developed his concept of vertical farming over a 10-year period with graduate students in a medical ecology class beginning in 1999, with work continued by Ontarian eco-architects like Gordon Graff from the University of Waterloo's School of Architecture.
Despommier is also co-host of three popular podcasts along with Vincent Racaniello, namely TWIV (This Week in Virology), TWIP (This Week in Parasitism) and Urban Agriculture.
Despommier has research interest in the ecotone, a transition area between two biomes, as a zone of high disease transmission and also in the spread of schistosomiasis, malaria, and a variety of helminths (ascaris, hookworm, trichuris) in agricultural areas. Despommier has studied the ecology of West Nile virus with a focus on related patterns of weather.
Research and findings on Trichinella spiralis, the causative agent of trichinosis, have resulted in a large body of literature. Despommier is especially known for his research findings in this area which led to numerous advances in the understanding of the "muscle stage" of the organism, and how it maintains itself in the host for long periods of time in the Nurse cell/parasite complex (weeks to years in some cases).
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