Lidwien Smit appointed professor of One Health and Environmental Epidemiology
The Executive Board has appointed Lidwien Smit as professor of One Health and Environmental Epidemiology at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine as of 1 November 2021. The chair falls under the interfaculty Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS) of the Department of Population Health Sciences at Veterinary Medicine and the UMC Utrecht. In her research and teaching, Smit focuses mainly on the impact of the living environment on health, from a One Health perspective: the relationship between human, animal and environmental health.
The world is changing rapidly and we are facing global environmental problems due to climate change, population growth, loss of biodiversity and deterioration of ecosystems. All these changes lead to (new) infectious diseases and affect the spread of non-communicable diseases.
Large-scale livestock farming
In the Netherlands, as well as in other regions of the world, large-scale livestock farms are expanding at an increasing rate, often in the middle of urban areas. This leads to a degradation of ecosystems and raises questions about the effects on human health. Emissions from farms are diverse and include coarse and fine particles, ammonia, potentially pathogenic viruses and (antibiotic resistant) bacteria, and endotoxins. These emissions can increase the risk of respiratory infections, among other things. But there are also studies that show the positive effects of an agricultural environment.
The global coronapandemic and its dramatic impact on public health, society and the economy emphasise the great importance of research through a 'One Health' perspective.
What is your main goal with this chair?
'The Netherlands is a densely populated country with extensive livestock farming,' says Smit. 'That creates an area of tension with public health, think of Q-fever, the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and the effects of air pollution, but also of recent SARS-CoV-2 infections between humans and animals on Dutch mink farms. With the current major issues surrounding livestock farming, possible risks to the environment and public health must be tackled in a progressive way. With this chair, I hope to contribute to this, not only in the Netherlands, but worldwide.'
How do you feel about being given this chair?
'It really suits my research group to work interdisciplinarily on complex issues. One Health is all about cooperation and connection between different disciplines and institutions to improve the health of humans, animals and the environment. I think it's great that the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine embraces this vision and wants to show the many facets of how we treat animals in research and education.'
Curriculum Vitae
Lidwien Smit (1976) obtained her Master's degree in Environmental Sciences (cum laude) at Wageningen 木瓜福利影视 & Research in 2001 and PhD at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 in 2008. After a year as a postdoctoral researcher at INSERM in Paris, she started working as a researcher at the Department of Environmental Epidemiology of IRAS. She was appointed associate professor there in 2013 and associate professor in 2018. Since 2020, Smit has been head of the 'One Health Microbial' group at IRAS.