By Erin Jester
Apart from exploring the final frontier, NASA has for decades used satellite technology to improve life on Earth.
University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions alumna Helena Chapman is at the forefront of this work. Since 2019, Chapman has supported a team that monitors Earth from above, logging environmental data to aid in public health surveillance and disease reporting.
As the associate program manager for Health and Air Quality Applications in NASA’s Earth Action program, her work is focused on air quality management, infectious disease prevention and control, and other environmental health topics.
“We’re all connected,” she said. “Keeping our communities healthy, that’s why I entered the health field.”
A three-time Gator, Chapman received her bachelor’s degree in integrative biology, Master of Public Health with a concentration in epidemiology and Ph.D. in Public Health with a concentration in One Health from the University of Florida. She received her medical degree from the Iberoamerican University in the Dominican Republic.
During her M.P.H. and the last year of her bachelor’s, Chapman led a research project that examined endemic dengue fever surveillance and control across the three neighboring geographic regions of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
She returned to UF in 2012 to pursue a Ph.D. in Public Health with a concentration in One Health. She was part of the second cohort of the One Health program.
“My three degrees in the biological and health sciences from UF provided the technical knowledge and skills needed to contribute substantially as a public health professional in the workforce,” Chapman said. “More specifically, my One Health training has allowed me to look beyond a contamination or pathogen exposure and focus on the driving factors influencing its emergence and spread. Although NASA was not part of my original career trajectory, I was well prepared to expand my horizons. Public health professionals can play a pivotal role in leveraging collective expertise that bridges the use of Earth science applications within the health sector.”
At NASA, Chapman helps manage a group of research projects that promotes the use of Earth observation data in public health applications, such as monitoring vector- and water-borne disease transmission, drought and extreme heat, and air quality. The integration of innovative data and technological sources helps maintain up-to-date field applications and provides a multidimensional evaluation of emerging environmental health risks.
As temperatures rise, humans are increasingly at risk for complications from exposure to ultraviolet radiation and extreme heat. Animals migrating to new habitats to escape the heat or find food sources can increase the risk for disease to spill over into human populations. Wildfire smoke can increase harmful emissions of aerosols and particulate matter, causing respiratory problems, and flames can destroy animal habitats and biodiversity. Drought conditions can increase the frequency of dust storms, creating the opportunity for disease-causing pathogens to hitch a ride on soil particles and sicken people hundreds or thousands of miles away.
“The public health challenges we’re seeing today are extremely complex and directly linked with animal and environmental health,” Chapman said. “Together, we need to identify innovative solutions that are timely, tangible and accessible to our communities. If these challenges were easy, then we would’ve had more progress by now.”
According to the World Health Organization, 12.6 million premature deaths each year are related to living or working in unhealthy environments. Of those, almost 7 million are related to ambient and indoor air quality.
Currently, NASA has 25 satellites and sensors in space collecting more than 25 terabytes of data every day about the Earth and how it’s changing. Along with other international space agencies, the fleet of satellites collect information on environmental parameters – like aerosols, air and land surface temperature, precipitation and vegetation – for weather, climate and environmental research applications. Researchers can use this high-resolution data to monitor air quality trends, whether from traffic- or industry-related pollution or wildfire smoke. Data are also used to model vector habitat suitability and develop disease risk maps and early warning system to get ahead of adverse health events before they happen.
Chapman received the NASA Early Career Achievement Medal in 2021 for “outstanding early career service to NASA in advancing innovative and practical uses of Earth Science observations for improving public health decision-making,” according to NASA’s website. Also in 2021, UF included Chapman in its 40 Gators Under 40 list.
Among her many skills and accolades, Chapman is also fluent in Spanish and has taught a course in One Health at the Universidad Católica del Cibao School of Health Sciences in La Vega, Dominican Republic, since 2021. She has been a professional lecturer in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and the George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health since 2019.
She has been a guest lecturer and seminar speaker at UF, and often shares opportunities with students, said Michael von Fricken, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Environmental and Global Health and director of UF’s One Health Center of Excellence, who was part of Chapman’s Ph.D. cohort.
Von Fricken said Chapman’s role as a multidisciplinary scientist is crucial for addressing multidimensional, systemic problems.
“Helena is fantastic at bridging and connecting groups from different sectors to address these wicked problems,” he said, referring to a term describing problems that are difficult to solve because of their complexity and interconnectedness.
Because of her medical degree, her cultural knowledge from living abroad and her doctoral work in One Health, von Fricken said, Chapman and others like her can approach these complicated global issues from more angles.
“She’s been an advocate for One Health for over a decade and represents the best of our program,” he said. “Even though we graduated at the same time, I think she’s a little bit of a role model for me.”
To students who find themselves on the same journey, Chapman offered this advice: Be inquisitive, follow your passion, identify the gaps and look for opportunities to contribute in a meaningful way.
Among the most important skills one can hone is listening, she said.
“Together, we can tackle the emerging health challenges that lie ahead,” she said. “Research findings will guide the scientific framework for our interventions. However, understanding community concerns and needs – in their words – will help us target these interventions and safeguard public health and well-being.”