18 – 19 August 2022
Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century
International Conference on Environment and Human Health:
Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century
The International Conference on Environment and Human Health: Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century aims to initiate networking, knowledge, and ideas exchanges between hundreds of professionals from countries around the world on the latest research on the nexus of the environment and human health. The Conference highlights the interdependence and interactions between human and the environment and their importance in affecting environmental sustainability and human health and wellbeing. It fosters knowledge exchange between academics, researchers, professionals, practitioners, and policy makers regarding the complex connections between the environment and human health and promote cross-discipline understanding, evidence-based actions and practices in the areas of human health and environmental health.
University at Albany, United States
Professor in Health Policy, Management and Behavior, School of Public Health, University at Albany, United States of America
Jennifer Manganello is on the faculty of the University at Albany School of Public Health. She is a health communication scholar who incorporates theories, concepts, and methods from the fields of public health and communication. Her research focuses on health literacy, especially as it relates to adolescents and young adults. She also studies the influences of media and technology on health. She has published her work in journals such as the Journal of Health Communication, Public Health Management and Practice, Journal of Children and Media, and Public Health Nutrition. Before starting at UAlbany, Dr. Manganello was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania. She earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
This talk will address lessons we have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic about how to communicate about public health. The talk will include a look at the current media and information landscape. Who uses what, and how should we disseminate messages? The talk will also cover how to consider the target audience and the importance of thinking about cultural competency and health literacy in message design. Ideas for best practices for using social media will also be discussed.
University of Sydney, Australia
Professor of Medicine, Academic Director Westmead Applied Research Centre, University of Sydney, Australia
Professor Clara Chow is Academic Director of the Westmead Applied Research Centre (WARC), Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney. She is a cardiologist and the Program Director of Community Based Cardiac Services at Westmead hospital and is also a member of the Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD) Governing Board, Sydney, Australia. Professor Chow has also been appointed the Director of the Australian Stroke and Heart Accelerator (ASHRA). She currently holds honorary appointments as the Charles Perkins Centre Westmead Academic Co-director and President of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. Professor Chow’s research focuses on the prevention of cardiovascular disease, innovation in the delivery of cardiovascular care and the evaluation of digital health interventions. She has expertise in the design, delivery and implementation of clinical trials. Her PhD from the University of Sydney, Australia was in cardiovascular epidemiology and international public Health and her Postdoc from McMaster University, Canada in clinical trials and cardiac imaging. She is supported by a NHMRC Investigator grant.
Despite the World Health Organisation amongst others recognising that hypertension is a leading modifiable cause of global morbidity and mortality, the global prevalence of hypertension, at about 40%, has been stagnant for the last 20 years, with prevalence dropping in some high-income countries but remaining the same or increased in many low- and middle- income countries. The reasons for this are multi-factorial with barriers at the individual, health care, and larger system and environment levels. Some of these barriers are surprisingly consistent globally, for example treatment inertia. Yet there are other barriers such as availability and affordability of medicines that are variable. The solutions are also not straight forward. There has been some innovation in interventions and ideas that could address the burden of hypertension globally. These include better use of fixed dose combination therapy as well as system level interventions, some that involve different ways of engaging the health and non-health work force in management of blood pressure, others involving digital solutions. The use of fixed dose combination greatly improves the likelihood that blood pressure will be controlled, with evidence from clinical trials supporting this, and international clinical guidelines also recommending combination therapy as first line for control of hypertension. However, the implementation of this evidence has not been anywhere near universal. This talk will discuss hypertension globally, where we are now, how we have got here, and what we could do to reduce the burden of hypertension globally.
University of Derby, United Kingdom
Prof. Sheffield is the Associate Head of Centre for Psychological Research. He is a Registered Health Psychologist and has trained students to be Health Psychologists (stage 1 and stage 2 training). He supervises PhD and Doctorate students, leads Psychology of Illness and Research Project in Health Psychology modules on the MSc Health Psychology programme, and teaches on BSc Psychology. His research interests are: Pain and Pain Management in Patients, Athletes, and Healthy Adults; Cardiovascular Responses to Stress in healthy adults and patients with heart disease; Performing under Pressure: Challenge and Threat responses in athletes; Nature Connectedness: correlates and interventions to increase how people relate to nature; and Maths Anxiety.
Over three decades ago the biophilia hypothesis was postulated by EO Wilson to account for our intrinsic bond with other living organisms. This sparked the first wave of scientific research into human-nature interactions by providing a hypothesis that could be tested. Nature affords a range of resources to directly promote wellbeing and facilitate problem solving as Wilson recognised. These benefits are not restricted to rural environments as I will describe in this keynote.
The strength of an individual’s connection with nature is related to both hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing in adults and children. In a series of studies, we have demonstrated how nature connectedness can be increased in urban environments by tapping into aspects of biophilia. In our initial studies using a noticing nature intervention delivered online and via an app, we find that nature connectedness can be increased and that these increases are sustained. Relatedly, well-being and pro-environmental behaviours were increased; It was good for people and for nature. Considering other aspects of biophilia lead us to test which biophilic values are related to nature connectedness and how they might be used to increase nature connectedness and, consequently, wellbeing. Our research indicated that five of the nine values proposed by Wilson were important and interventions that focused on them increased nature connectedness and wellbeing. Interestingly, although these approaches can benefit individuals in a range of environments, greater biodiversity is associated with greater benefits. Recent attention has begun to turn towards the human-nature relationship as a route to limiting environmental damage, acknowledging that information is insufficient to produce environmentally responsible behaviours. Our relationship with nature may be key to saving humanity from a harm of its own making and avoiding the ultimate loss of other species along with ourselves.
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Associate Chair – Academic, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Jung, Younbo (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is an Associate Professor and Associate Chair (Academic) at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University Singapore. His research interests include socio-psychological effects of interactive media such as video games, virtual reality systems, and human-robot interaction, and their applications in medical and educational fields. Dr. Jung’s current project addresses various issues emerged from the ageing and modern society, known as Gerontechnology, Heath Tech, or Age Tech.
University of Washington, United States
Professor, Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHanGE), University of Washington, United States
Kristie L. Ebi, Ph.D., MPH is a professor in the Center for Health and the Global Environment at the University of Washington, USA. She has been conducting research and practice on the health risks of climate variability and change for 25 years, including estimating current and future health risks of climate change; designing adaptation policies and measures to reduce risks in multi-stressor environments; and estimating the health co-benefits of mitigation policies. She has been an author on multiple national and international climate change assessments, including the fourth U.S. National Climate Assessment and the IPCC 6th Assessment Report.
Climate change is causing injuries, illnesses, and deaths worldwide, with increases in global temperature projected to further increase morbidity and mortality from most climate-sensitive health outcomes if actions are not taken to rapidly increase adaptation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The magnitude and pattern of future risks will depend not just on climate change but also on development choices. Adaptation can reduce the current and projected burdens of climate-sensitive health outcomes over the short term in many countries, but the extent to which it could do so past mid-century will depend on emission and development pathways. Under high emission scenarios, climate change will be rapid and extensive, leading to fundamental shifts in the burden of climate-sensitive health outcomes that will be challenging for many countries to manage. Unmanaged disease burdens could erode gains made in public health, economic development, and living standards worldwide. Sustainable development pathways could delay but not eliminate associated health burdens.
Norfolk County Council & University of East Anglia, United Kingdom
Expert Advisor in Public Health, Norfolk County Council
Honorary Professorial Fellow of Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom
Prof. Andy Jones works as an Expert Advisor in Public Health at Norfolk County Council and a Honorary Professorial Fellow of Norwich Medical School at University of East Anglia. He has wide ranging expertise in public health, including the pragmatic evaluation of public health interventions, the role of the environment as a determinant of health and related behaviours, and the impact of access to services on health outcomes. He has keen interests in policy and delivery and has worked closely with a range of key organisations including the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and Cancer Research UK. He heads a prolific research group, has won £25 million of research funding as lead or co-applicant, and has published over 270 peer-reviewed journal articles. He has an impact (h) index score of 61, which is classified as “exceptional” and places me in the top percentile of academics worldwide.
Whilst it is generally accepted that living in more natural environment may bring a range of health benefits associated with contact with nature, the residents of rural areas face several potential challenges not encountered by their urban counterparts including social isolation, a lack of skilled employment opportunities and greater distances to travel to health services. All of these might adversely impact their health, raising the need to understand how the health benefits of living close to nature are balanced against opportunity deprivation for those outside urban areas. Deprivation indices have been widely used to understand geographical variations in poverty in healthcare research and planning in many countries since the mid-1980s. However, urban areas tend to dominate the deprived end of these indices because of the methods that are typically used to generate them, meaning it can be difficult to understand the impact of rural poverty on health. This research examines issues around the measurement of multiple deprivation in rural areas and, using a case study approach of a rural setting in part of the UK, it provides a series of recommendations about how this might be better done.
National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
Distinguished Professor and Director, Graduate Institute of Environmental Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
Prof. Fang is currently serving as a Distinguished Professor and Director of the Graduate Institute of Environmental Education, National Taiwan Normal University and is the Presidents of the Society of Wetland Scientists Asia Chapter and Taiwan Wetland Society. He received a BA degree in Land Economics and Administration from National Taipei University, received his first master's degree in Environmental Planning (MEP) from Arizona State University, second master's degree in Landscape Architecture in Design studies (MDes.S.) from the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, USA. He obtained a Ph.D. from the Department of Ecosystem Science & Management, Texas A&M University, USA.
The impact of human activities on Earth are sufficient to form a new geologic epoch. The Industrial Revolution was the beginning of the Anthropocene epoch, but to date neither the International Commission on Stratigraphy nor the International Union of Geological Sciences has approved this slice of geologic time. Nonetheless, soon after this concept was put forward, many scholars posited that the beginning of the Anthropocene epoch should be earlier and based on science. Scientists have documented 50% of the biota that once lived on Earth have become extinct since humans arrived. The continued increase in human population and excessive consumption of the planet’s natural resources may lead to the Earth’s 6th mass extinction event. Promoting sustainable development should be a goal pursued by governments of all countries.
If environmental problems exist, then environmental protection at all levels of government and society are needed to reconnect Nature and Humans to save the planet. The ecological problems humans face today comes from the loss of traditional knowledge, values, human behavior, and ethics. Pro-environmental behaviors (PEB), therefore, promote both the intrinsic value of nature and the protection of nature and its sacredness. Therefore, we need to address environmental issues through advocacy, education, and activism. The environmental education (EE) learning elements include concepts such as natural resource conservation, environmental management, ecological principles, environmental interaction and interdependence, environmental ethics, and sustainability. The goals for environmental education are lofty, but all are aimed to cultivate human environmental awareness and sensitivity, knowledge, values and attitudes, and mobility skills, and experience.
Environmental education shoulders the responsibility of cultivating national level, and socially based environmental protection programs, such as education, restoration, and conservation. The sustainable development talents of the students that are related to environmental quality, environmental resources, and sustainable development relationship that are cultivated through university programs may contribute to the economic and social development of various countries. Understanding the ecology of the environments within which we live and protecting the environment is a common thread through all people and cultures.
Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Leuphana University Lueneburg, Germany
Keynote Speech: Healthy Schools, Healthy Students: Advances and Challenges in Health Education and School Health Promotion
Professor, Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Leuphana University Lueneburg, Germany
Prof. Kevin Dadaczynski is full professor at the Public Health Centre Fulda of Fulda University of Applied Science. His research focus is on health promotion and education with special interest on educational settings, digital health and health literacy. He is involved as principal investigator and coordinator in national and international projects on school health promotion (e.g. evaluation of complex and holistic interventions on health promoting schools, Health Behaviour in School Aged-Children Study, HBSC) and health literacy (e.g. COVID-HL Survey, digital health literacy of pupils). He formerly held positions at the German Federal Center for Health Education, Leuphana Univeristy Lueneburg and Flensburg University.
Around 41% of the world's population is 24 years of age or younger, representing a total 3.31 billion young people (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2019). Although duration of compulsory education differs substantially across countries worldwide, schools are a setting that play a significant role in the daily lives of young people. Schools are ideal places to support young people in their healthy development and to empower them to take responsibility for their own health and that of their environment. In this context, holistic approaches that focus on different topics, target groups (students, teaching and non-teaching school staff, parents) and levels within and outside of the school are considered to be particularly promising. However, the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically impacted schools, resulting - amongst other consequences - in school closures that lasted from 6 weeks (Iceland) and 82 weeks (India) (UNESCO, 2022). Given this background, it is not surprising that emerging evidence suggest the COVID-19 pandemic is a disruptive event for schools, impeding the implementation of holistic activities on health promotion and prevention (Dadaczynski et al., 2022). By contrast, an increasing number of studies report an increase in health-related problems among students and school staff, indicating a greater need for health promotion activities in schools. Notably, the most vulnerable children and adolescents (e.g., those with low socioeconomic backgrounds) are the most affected, thus widening health inequalities. The purpose of this presentation is to introduce current challenges and needs in school health promotion as a strategy for societal recovery and resurgence. Special attention will be given to health literacy as an emerging public health issue, including considerations of how to integrate health literacy into the holistic Health Promoting School approach.
University of New South Wales, Australia
Associate Professor in Urban Health and Environment, School of Population Health, University of New South Wales, Australia
Xiaoqi Feng is the Associate Professor in Urban Health and Environment in the UNSW School of Population Health, Australia. Xiao leads a program of research focused on enhancing population wellbeing through identifying modifiable environmental factors (e.g. green space) that shape health across the lifecourse. She has authored >160 publications, led major research projects (funding >$19.4M, including NHMRC), and translated her research into policy.
Xiao has won multiple research awards and her research has informed councils urban greening strategies (e.g. City of Sydney) She’s empowering young and diverse communities of scientists as the founding co-director of PowerLab (www.PowerLab.site). Internationally, Xiao is an elected council member and education committee chair for the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology Asia-Western Pacific Chapter.
There appears to be increasing appreciation for the health benefits of nature and, simultaneously, a widespread movement to reforest cities around the world. This will hopefully lead to sustained health improvements for all, but there are some indications in the literature that this might not always be the case. In this presentation, I will outline evidence for the domains of pathways linking nature and health, highlighting matters of contingency and evidence that shows how some groups are able to reap the benefits more than others. In doing so, I will discuss opportunities for shifting future research emphasis from understanding the impacts of green space on health per se, to measuring the net-impacts of urban greening processes on health (in)equity.
University of Toronto, Canada
Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology, University of Toronto, Canada
Head of the Mood Disorders Psychopharmacology Unit, University Health Network
Dr. Roger McIntyre is currently a Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology at the University of Toronto and Head of the Mood Disorders Psychopharmacology Unit at the University Health Network, Toronto, Canada.
Dr. McIntyre is also Executive Director of the Brain and Cognition Discovery Foundation in Toronto, Canada. Dr. McIntyre is also Director as well as Co-Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) from Chicago, Illinois, USA. Dr. McIntyre is also Professor and Nanshan Scholar at Guangzhou Medical University, and Adjunct Professor College of Medicine at Korea University. Dr. McIntyre is also Clinical Professor State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York, USA and Clinical Professor Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences University of California School of Medicine, Riverside, California, USA. Dr. McIntyre is the founder of the Canadian Rapid Treatment Centre of Excellence (CRTCE) and the CEO of Braxia Scientific Corp.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a global public health crisis and also represents a global mental health crisis. This presentation will highlight the epidemiology of the mental health crisis with special attention paid to social economic and spatial determinants and will discuss mechanisms that would be mediating the increase rate of mental health related disorders and strategies at the population and individual level that can mitigate the risk.
Yale University, United States
Associate Research Scientist, Yale University, United States
Pain, Research, Informatics, Medical Comorbidities and Education Center, Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, CT, United States
Center for Medical Informatics, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States
My career focuses on using continuous glucose monitors (CGM) and other wearable sensors to develop personally tailored physical activity interventions for people with diabetes, including digital coaching, gamification, and peer support. I work with the US Veterans Health Administration Innovations Ecosystem as the national Clinical Champion and a Quality Improvement Evaluator for a Digital Health Platform to integrate data from CGMs and fitness smartwatches into the VHA medical record while furthermore generating data-driven diabetes-specific lifestyle coaching. I am a member of the Sports Tech Research Network’s Special Interest Group on Quality Assessment of Sports Technologies.
The impact of social isolation on human health and wellbeing merits attention in the COVID era, especially for people already socially isolated due to having an uncommon chronic disease. A leading example is type 1 diabetes (T1D). It is diagnosed during childhood for 1 in approximately 400 individuals, meaning its patients have limited opportunity to connect to peers who share or understand their condition. An especially salient yet unexplored way that such social isolation impacts health and wellbeing is through physical activity (PA). Many critical PA opportunities for youth are group-based, but these activities are challenging for those with T1D due to stigma issues ranging from exposure of diabetes devices to the burden of explaining T1D management to uninformed teammates and coaches, parental hesitancy about participation, and the games’ often-sporadic timing that prevents T1D-specific preparation (an inherently complex and unpredictable challenge). My team has sought to address this gap by leveraging virtual tools to facilitate a group PA intervention for T1D, including PA self-management guidance from young adult role models living with T1D, individual and group PA goals, role-playing scenarios involving PA and T1D, and group PA activities. Thus, the program builds upon existing peer support discussion models by incorporating peer support into all activities ranging from discussion to practice to action. Adults with T1D have also benefitted from our on-demand virtual PA instructional tools, crediting the skills and confidence conferred by the tools. They have also asked for tools to support more consistent motivation, which we are beginning to develop through machine learning for just-in-time adaptive interventions. Together, these studies speak to the promise of virtual technology to address longstanding barriers to PA, health, and wellbeing resulting from the social isolation of living with uncommon chronic diseases.
Taipei Medical University, Taiwan
Assistant Professor, Taipei Medical University, Taiwan
Vice-President, Asian Health Literacy Association, United Kingdom
Chair, Nutrition Health Literacy Interest Group, International Health Literacy Association, United States
Dr. Duong has run a number of research projects in Asian countries, and published 43 original research articles on 25 ISI journals. He has been serving as an Associate Editor of Specialty Section – Eating Behavior on Frontiers in Nutrition and Frontiers in Psychology, a Guest Editor of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, a reviewer of 32 international journals. Dr. Duong has received 14 honorable academic awards from national and international organizations from Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Switzerland, Taiwan, United States, and Vietnam.
Lifestyle has been changed significantly amidst the COVID-19 pandemic which further affect the health outcomes. Lifestyle has been recognized and acknowledged as an essential prevention strategy for health promotion, as a foundational and efficacious therapy for a renovated healthcare system for lowering costs, improving health outcomes, and improving patient satisfaction and quality of life.
There are six core healthy lifestyles to improve health including (1) Nutrition - An Evidence-Based, Practical Approach to Chronic Disease Prevention and Treatment, (2) Physical Activity, (3) Stress Management, (4) Sleep and Health, (5) Avoidance of Risky Substances: Steps to Help Patients Reduce Anxiety, Overeating and Smoking, (6) Positive Social Connection: A Key Pillar of Lifestyle Medicine.
In our studies, health-related behaviors were found as predictors and modifiers of physical and mental health and quality of life in healthcare workers, students, and patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, the strategies to get stakeholders come together to amplify healthy lifestyle promotion, education, and interventions are also presented.
Columbia University, United States
Exercise Physiologist, Yale - New Haven Hospital;
Adjunct Associate Professor, Teachers College, Columbia University, United States
Matthew Stults-Kolehmainen, PhD FACSM ACSM EP-C is an exercise physiologist (clinical role) at Yale - New Haven Hospital (New Haven, Connecticut) and Adjunct Associate Professor in Applied Physiology at Teachers College – Columbia University (New York, New York). His Ph.D. is from The University of Texas-Austin with post-doctoral and fellowship training at Yale Medical School, Teachers College - Columbia University and the University of Jyväskylä (Finland). He has authored 38 scholarly articles and book chapters. His research focuses on exercise, motivation and stress, and his clinical specialty is in bariatric surgery and the role of exercise in weight management.
Physically active behaviors are the product of multi-factorial processes involving cognitive, emotional and motivational factors, the latter of which has become of central interest. There has been a call to understand how motivation for physical activity works in the moment or right now. In other words, one’s motivation for movement likely varies in the moment, just as their actual movement behavior varies moment-by-moment. This conceptual understanding of motivation states stands in contrast to the more conventional understanding of motivation as relating to traits (e.g., “I am not a motivated person”) or enduring characteristics of a person (e.g., “Recently, I have felt ready to exercise”). In 2005, Kavanaugh and colleagues, first described the concept of affectively-charged motivation states (ACMS) – desires, wants, cravings and urges – as applied to health behaviors (e.g., smoking, drinking, eating snacks, etc.). Ostensibly, desires and wants are weaker motivation states while urges and cravings feel stronger, may last longer and may have a greater impact on behavior. Our group recently expanded how motivation states apply to movement and sedentary behaviors as proposed in the WANT model (Wants and Aversions for Neuromuscular Tasks). This framework describes how desires and urges to move and rest reflect a range of motivational inputs that can result in ACMS being complementary or act in opposition. Thus, they are loosely coupled and operate asymmetrically in response to various situations and a range of stimuli, from stressful circumstances to meditation. A series of 11 studies has recently been concluded to validate this model. Also, a new instrument, called the CRAVE, was developed to assess these states. These studies demonstrate that motivation states change rapidly, are highly influenced by preceding behaviors, and are related - yet distinct - from sensations of energy and fatigue. Furthermore, they operate in a circadian waveform to influence behavior.
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Associate Professor, National University of Singapore
Senior Consultant Psychiatris
Institute for Health Innovation and Technology, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Dr Roger Ho is an Associate Professor and Senior Consultant Psychiatrist at the National University of Singapore. He is the Principal Investigator of the Institute for Health Innovation and Technology at NUS.
His research focuses on global mental health and infrared light brain imaging. He obtained his medical degree (MBBS) and higher research degree (MD) from the University of Hong Kong. He is a Fellow and Member of more than ten Royal Colleges of Psychiatrists and Physicians worldwide.
He has published more than 450 papers. In 2021, he had been named one of the highly cited researchers in the world by the Clarivate Analytics.
In this presentation, Dr Roger Ho shared his research findings that were conducted in the early stage of COVID-19 pandemic in China. He collaborated with academics from Huaibei Normal University as well as psychiatrists and mental health professionals in Chongqing, China. These studies focused on the general population, psychiatric patients and workers. The study teams identified the psychological impact, risk and protective factors for mental health in the early stage of pandemic. Then the study teams performed cross-cultural comparison on the prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress as well as risk and protective factors between China and other countries. As the COVID-19 pandemic is evolving in China and other countries, the impact on mental health changes. Dr Ho will present recent research findings on the impact of mental health in China and propose strategies to safeguard mental health.
East Carolina University, United States
Professor, East Carolina University
Department of Psychology
Department of Cardiovascular Sciences
East Carolina Heart Institute
United States
Samuel F. Sears, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Cardiovascular Sciences at East Carolina University. Dr. Sears has published over 200 articles in the research literature and has well over 10, 000 citations. Dr. Sears continues to practice and teach health psychology in cardiology clinics at the East Carolina Heart Institute at East Carolina University. Dr. Sears received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. (1995) in clinical health psychology from the University of Florida.
The COVID-19 pandemic produced profound changes in the daily lives and lifestyles of people around the world. For the cardiac patient, the virus represented a potential threat that magnified risks associated with cardiovascular disease and its management. The purpose of this presentation is to identify the psychological and behavioral consequences of COVID for the cardiovascular patient. Specific emphasis will be placed on the role of physical activity, disease management and emotional management during the pandemic by heart patients. Multiple research studies have indicated increased psychological distress and both on-target and off-target disease management behaviors. Clinical implications for this research and managing these changes will be discussed.
University of the Philippines Manila, Philippine
Professor, University of the Philippines Manila, Philippine
Vice chairman of the South East Asian One Health University Network
Dr. Michael L. Tee is a Professor and University Scientist at the University of the Philippines Manila. He is currently the chairman of the Philippine One Health University Network and Vice Chairman of the Southeast Asia One Health University Network. He is a specialist in internal medicine and rheumatology. His research interests originally focused on autoimmune diseases such as lupus, gout, and rheumatoid arthritis. However, as COVID19 developed into a pandemic, Dr. Tee initiated several studies that aimed to guide policy directions in government response. He is a fellow of the OCTA Research Group, a well-recognized independent science advice provider for COVID-19 in the Philippines.
As vaccination continues to successfully bring down mortality associated with COVID-19, we begin to confront the impact of this infection on individuals who survived. In this talk, we will discuss the enduring effects of COVID19 on hospitalized patients, and on patients who were either asymptomatic or had only mild symptoms during the period of infection. We will also discuss the psychological and mental health issues that stem from national public health policies issued to control the spread of the virus. Finally, we will present data on factors that influence vaccine hesitancy, and attempt to present an analysis on how it can be overcome.
Chairperson
Dr. Sam LAU
Vice-Chairpersons
Dr. Rebecca PANG
Dr. Cecilia TAM
Members
Dr. Banny CHAN
Ms. Vivian CHAN
Mr. Alex HO
Chairperson:
Dr. Sam S S LAU
Vice-Chairperson:
Dr. Cecilia S Y TAM
Dr Rebecca C K PANG
Members:
Ms. Vivian M S CHAN
Dr. Banny S K CHAN
Mr. Alex K C HO
18 - 19 August 2022
