By Lin Lofley

Dr. Joseph Oppong, Professor of Medical Geography at the University of North Texas and keynote speaker at the second annual UT Southwestern Medical Center Global Health Student Conference, told attendees that where a person lives has a great deal to do with what kind of disease he or she is exposed to.

“There’s a geography to disease, and that’s what I do,” said Dr. Oppong, whose research interests include neighborhood characteristics and HIV/AIDS in Texas, geographic distribution of tuberculosis genotypes, and the applications of geographic information systems (GIS) to understanding spatial patterns of disease and health.

Using GIS can help health care professionals identify and gauge vulnerabilities, Dr. Oppong said. He used a study of the occurrence of HIV cases in Texas to evaluate access to highly effective medications.

Dr. Oppong pointed out that incidence of HIV infection often shows up in areas of extreme poverty. But in documenting a 30-year window of all HIV cases in Texas, he said it appears that urban areas have the highest incidence of the disease. One exception was remote areas of the state that included a prison location.

“That’s revealing because HIV infection is four to five times higher in the prison population than it is in the general population,” he said.

Among Dr. Oppong’s current research projects are a study of climate and Buruli ulcer in Africa, of schistosomiasis in Ghana, and computational epidemiology, which employs computer simulations to understand geographic patterns of disease spread. Buruli ulcer is an infectious disease that spreads through unknown factors, although water is suspected. Early treatment with antibiotics is about 80 percent effective. However, the ulcer is often undiagnosed until it has spread in the body and has infected the bones.

At UNT, Dr. Oppong teaches a variety of courses including Quantitative Methods in Geography, Medical Geography, and Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa. He advises graduate student research in areas that correspond with his own research interests.

Members of the UT Southwestern Global Health Interest Group staged the student conference, led by co-chairs and medical students Jie Yao and Aloysus Lawong.

Student presenters at the event included fourth-year medical student Eva Studer and third-year medical student Carolina Gutierrez.