Population, Health, and Environment Transitions in the Developing World

David López-Carr, Professor of Department of Geography, UC Santa Barbara

I am co-Direct of the University of California Global Health Institute (UCGHI) Center of Expertise on Planetary Health. I am Professor of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where I direct the Human-Environment Dynamics Lab (HED) and lead the population, health, and environment research group for the Broom Center for Demography. I have lived, worked, and traveled in over 70 countries and speak Spanish, as well as some Portuguese, Italian, French, and very rudimentary Q’eqchí Maya. My research focuses on links among population, health, rural development, agriculture, and marine and forest resource use and conservation through ongoing projects in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. I have authored over 130 scientific publications. My research is conducted with colleagues and students thanks to several million dollars in funding from over 50 fellowships, grants, and awards from NASA, NSF, NIH, the Mellon and Fulbright Foundations, and numerous other sources. I am a Fellow of the NAS’ Kavli Frontiers of Science and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Before co-directing the Center for Planetary Health, I was an associate director for the UCGHI Center of Expertise on Migration and Health and Director of UCSB’s Latin American and Iberian Studies, where I was awarded outstanding graduate mentor. During 2015-15, I chaired the UC Faculty Senate Committee on Affirmative Action, Equity, and Diversity (UCAAD) and remain on several related committees in which I have helped author various plans, proposals and responses regarding policy as it relates to diversity and equity in higher education across the UCs.