Stephen Luby
Stephen Luby
Senior Fellow - Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment & Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies; Director of Research, Center for Innovation in Global Health; Professor of Medicine, Infectious Diseases
Type:
Senior Fellow
School:
Medicine
Additional Information:
Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Center for Innovation in Global Health
Research Area(s):
Public Health
Biography
Dr. Luby earned his MD degree from the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical School at Dallas. His previous positions include directing the Centre for Communicable Diseases at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh in Dhaka, Bangladesh, conducting research and teaching epidemiology at the Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan, and working as an epidemiologist in the Foodborne and Diarrheal Diseases Branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Luby is best known for his work demonstrating the impact of handwashing on disease reduction in low income countries, characterizing the epidemiology of Nipah virus transmission in Bangladesh, and explicating the importance of unsafe injections for transmission of hepatitis C in low income countries.
His research focuses on developing and evaluating practical interventions to prevent environmental damage that worsens human health in low income countries. He is particularly interested in strategies to counter perverse incentives where businesses generate income by destroying the environment and compromising public health. He works primarily in Bangladesh but also has projects in Western China and Liberia. His ongoing projects include 1) assessing the impact on health and child cognitive development of scalable strategies to improve water, sanitation and hygiene; 2) reducing the adverse environmental and health consequences of brick manufacturing in Bangladesh; 3) reducing the exposure to lead among residents of rural Bangladesh; 4) characterizing and preventing zoonotic disease transmission especially of henipa and influenza viruses.
Selected Publications by this Author
News & Press Releases
Winning with Water: Funding Awarded to Revitalize Urban Slums »
Stanford’s Stephen Luby to direct health evaluation of prestigious research collaboration led by Monash University to revitalize slums through water management strategies.
By Rachel Leslie,
View More News & Press Releases
Media Coverage
Cleaning Poop from Drinking Water »
Interviews Woods Senior Fellows Stephen Luby and Jenna Davis and Woods Research Associate Amy Pickering about their work with the Lotus Water Project.
By Lauren Farrar,
Is Targeting Access to Sanitation Enough? »
Commentary by Senior Fellow Stephen Luby (Medicine) explaining why many well-funded sanitation programs may actually be misguided because they fail to focus on issues such as changing defecation habits, handwashing promotion, rotavirus vaccines, nutritional supplementation and clinical improvements.
By Stephen Luby,
Study Finds Alarming Level of Lead in Pregnant Women »
Discusses interim results of Environmental Venture Project-supported research showing link between pesticide use and lead poisoning.
By Rafe Sadnan Adel,