UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Peter Hudson, Willaman Professor of Biology and Director of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State, will give a free public lecture titled "One World ... One Health," at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 11, in 100 Thomas Building on the Penn State University Park campus.
The event is the fourth of six consecutive Saturday lectures in the 2017 Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science, a free public minicourse that does not require registration or exams. The overall theme of the 2017 lecture series is "The Quest for One Healthy Planet."
Hudson will discuss the threat of global epidemics that could result from emerging diseases, including Ebola, SARS and Hendra. Some of these diseases are caused by viruses that can be transmitted to people by horses, bats, ticks and other species, as well as by other people. Hudson's research also includes how being infected with one of these diseases leaves a person susceptible to other pathogens and parasites. He will show the latest research about where these new diseases are coming from and what measures are being used now to limit their spread among people and also among wildlife. He also will suggest what research scientists can do next to reveal new ways to prevent and contain the spread of such diseases.
Peter Hudson has published more than 300 scientific papers and four books on the ecology of infectious diseases. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2008 and a Corresponding Fellow of the Royal Society of Scotland in 2010. Among his honors are the Carlton Herman Award and the Laurent Perrier Award. He has been the director of Penn State's Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences since 2005.
Future lectures in the 2017 series are:
- "The Race to Grow Enough Food for Everyone" on Feb. 18 by Jonathan Lynch, Professor of Plant Nutrition at Penn State
- "Marine Mammals as Health Sentinels for Oceans and Us" on Feb. 25 by Gregory D. Bossart, senior vice president for Animal Health, Research, and Conservation at the Georgia Aquarium.
The Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science is an annual free public minicourse organized and supported by the Penn State Eberly College of Science as an enjoyable and enlightening learning opportunity for eager learners in the Central Pennsylvania area and beyond. After presentation, the lectures are closed-captioned and then archived online for viewing worldwide. More information about the Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science and links to archived videos of previous lectures are online at science.psu.edu/frontiers.
For more information or access assistance, contact the Eberly College of Science Office of Communications at 814-863-4682 or sci-comm@psu.edu.