Geography

Professor Emeritus

gglass@ufl.edu

Focus Areas

• Focus Area 2: Medical Geography in Global Health (MGGH)

Areas of Specialization

• Medical Geography
• Risk factor analysis
• Vector-borne and Zoonotic Diseases

Educational Background

• Post-Doctoral Fellow in Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University, 1986
• PhD in Systematics & Ecology, University of Kansas, 1983
• MPhil in Systematics & Ecology, University of Kansas, 1981
• M.A. in Systematics & Ecology, University of Kansas, 1979
• B.A. in Biology, Boston University, 1974

Recent Courses

• Advanced Research Methods in Medical Geography & Spatial Epidemiology
• Public Health Ecology
• GIS & Spatial Statistics
• Vector borne Diseases

Students Recently Graduated

• Nicholas Dowhaniuk – World Health Organization
• Dr. Abolfazl Mollalo – Assistant Professor, Baldwin Wallace University
• Dr. Ubydul Haque – Assistant Professor, University of North Texas Science Center
• Dr. Barbara Ellis – Deputy Director, Public Health Preparedness, CDC
• Dr. Erik Hofmeister – Research Virologist, National Wildlife Health Center, USGS
• Dr. Martin Sanders – Chief, Public Health, Safety, and Preparedness, US DHS
• Dr. William Nicholson – Branch Chief, Viral & Rickettsial Zoonoses Branch, CDC
• Dr. Brian Bird – Director, One Health Institute, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
• Dr. Sabra Klein – Professor, Molecular Microbiology & Immunology, Johns Hopkins University
• Dr. Scott Shone – Director, North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health

In My Own Words

My lab focuses on understanding the bases of infectious disease systems; the agents, hosts, and environmental sources. We are especially interested in characterizing how changes in environmental conditions over space and time alter the patterns of disease that we see. These patterns often provide key clues to identify what triggers disease emergence/outbreaks and may give us clues for intervention and prevention. In a broader sense, we use this information to assess how well regional and national health care programs work to improve the health of people and animals. We combine data from numerous sources, including remotely sensed imagery with epidemiologic studies in statistical analyses. Our goal is to use geospatial science to find ways to anticipate and intervene to prevent large-scale disease outbreaks before they happen.

Recent Publications

Kortessis, N., Glass, G., Gonzalez, A., Ruktanonchai, N. W., Simon, M. W., Singer, B., & Holt, R. D. (2025). Metapopulations, the inflationary effect, and consequences for public health. The American Naturalist, 205(3).

Ebi, K.L., J.M. Balbus, G. Luber, A. Bole, A. Crimmins, G. Glass, S. Saha, M.M. Shimamoto, J. Trtanj, and J.L. White-Newsome, 2018: Human Health. In Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II [Reidmiller, D.R., C.W. Avery, D.R. Easterling, K.E. Kunkel, K.L.M. Lewis, T.K. Maycock, and B.C. Stewart (eds.)]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, pp. 572–603.

Childs, J. E., Klein, S. L., & Glass, G. E. (2019). A case study of two rodent-borne viruses: not always the same old suspects. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 7, 35.

Mollalo, A., Mao, L., Rashidi, P., & Glass, G. E. (2019). A GIS-based artificial neural network model for spatial distribution of tuberculosis across the continental United States. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(1), 157.

Haque, U., Da Silva, P. F., Devoli, G., Pilz, J., Zhao, B., Khaloua, A., … & Glass, G. E. (2019). The human cost of global warming: Deadly landslides and their triggers (1995–2014). Science of the Total Environment, 682, 673-684.

Kessler, W. H., Ganser, C., & Glass, G. E. (2019). Modeling the distribution of medically important tick species in Florida. Insects, 10(7), 190.

Demchyshyna, I. V., Glass, G. E., Hluzd, O. A., Kutseva, V. V., Taylor, M. K., Williams, E. P., … & Jonsson, C. B. (2020). Cocirculation of two orthohantavirus species in small mammals of the Northwestern Ukraine. Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 56(3), 640-645.

Kortessis, N., Simon, M. W., Barfield, M., Glass, G. E., Singer, B. H., & Holt, R. D. (2020). The interplay of movement and spatiotemporal variation in transmission degrades pandemic control. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(48), 30104-30106.

Glass, G. E., Ganser, C., & Kessler, W. H. (2021). Validating species distribution models with standardized surveys for Ixodid ticks in mainland Florida. Journal of Medical Entomology, 58(3), 1345-1351..

Williams, E. P., Taylor, M. K., Demchyshyna, I., Nebogatkin, I., Nesterova, O., Khuda, I., … & Jonsson, C. B. (2021). Prevalence of hantaviruses harbored by murid rodents in northwestern Ukraine and discovery of a novel Puumala virus strain. Viruses, 13(8), 1640.

Parmenter, R. R., & Glass, G. E. (2022). Hantavirus outbreaks in the American Southwest: Propagation and retraction of rodent and virus diffusion waves from sky-island refugia. International Journal of Modern Physics B, 36(07n08), 2140052.

Kessler, W. H., De Jesus, C., Wisely, S. M., & Glass, G. E. (2022). Ensemble models for tick vectors: standard surveys compared with convenience samples. Diseases, 10(2), 32.

Shannon, K. L., Shields, T., Ahmed, S., Rahman, H., Prue, C. S., Khyang, J., … & Curriero, F. C. (2022). Temporal and Spatial Differences between Symptomatic and Asymptomatic Malaria Infections in the Chittagong Hill Districts, Bangladesh. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 107(6), 1210.

Recent Research Grants

2017-2022 NSF The future of U.S. forest function under changing environment, disturbance and forest management

2017-2021 CDC Southeast regional center of excellence in Vector borne diseases (VBD) Gateway CoE

2016-2019 NIOSH Extent of agricultural pesticide application in Florida using best practices

2010-2016 NIH 1U19AI089680-01. Malaria Transmission and the Impact of Control Efforts in Southern Africa

2011-2016 NIH U54 HD070725-01. Johns Hopkins Global Center on Childhood Obesity

2012-2015 SRI subcontract. Mapping especially dangerous pathogens in the Ukraine.

2010-2015 NIH T32 AI007417. Training in Molecular and Cellular Bases of Infectious Disease

2010-2015 NSF 0955897. EcoHealthNet: Ecology, environmental science and health research network

2009-2014 Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Global Health. Predicting dengue epidemics with entomological and virological surveillance by xenomonitoring

–top–