Sophie Vanwambeke is a medical geographer, who graduated with a PhD in Sciences (geography) in 2005 in UCLouvain. She is a professor in the School of Geography and Earth & Life Institute in UCLouvain. Her research focuses on the geography of infectious diseases as a manifestation of spatial interactions between human societies and their environment. She has worked on mosquito-, tick- and rodent-borne diseases in South East Asia, Africa and South America, both in the field of human and animal health. She is an active member of the Ecohealth society and the One Health network in Belgium.
Key publications
Vanwambeke, S. O., Linard, C., & Gilbert, M. (2019). Emerging challenges of infectious diseases as a feature of land systems. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 38, 31‑36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2019.05.005
Zeimes, C. B., Quoilin, S., Henttonen, H., Lyytikäinen, O., Vapalahti, O., Reynes, J. M., Reusken, C., Swart, A. N., Vainio, K., Hjertqvist, M., & Vanwambeke, S. O. (2015). Landscape and Regional Environmental Analysis of the Spatial Distribution of Hantavirus Human Cases in Europe. Frontiers in Public Health, 3. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2015.00054
Hartemink, N., Vanwambeke, S. O., Purse, B. V., Gilbert, M., & van Dyck, H. (2014). Towards a resource‐based habitat approach for spatial modelling of vector‐borne disease risks. Biological Reviews, 90(4), 1151‑1162. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12149
Vanwambeke, S. O., Bennett, S. N., & Kapan, D. D. (2010). Spatially disaggregated disease transmission risk : land cover, land use and risk of dengue transmission on the island of Oahu. Tropical Medicine & International Health, 16(2), 174‑185. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3156.2010.02671.x
Lambin, E. F., Tran, A., Vanwambeke, S. O., Linard, C., & Soti, V. (2010). Pathogenic landscapes : Interactions between land, people, disease vectors, and their animal hosts. International Journal of Health Geographics, 9(1), 54. https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-072x-9-54
Vanwambeke, S. O., Lambin, E. F., Eichhorn, M. P., Flasse, S. P., Harbach, R. E., Oskam, L., Somboon, P., van Beers, S., van Benthem, B. H. B., Walton, C., & Butlin, R. K. (2007). Impact of Land-use Change on Dengue and Malaria in Northern Thailand. EcoHealth, 4(1), 37‑51. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-007-0085-5