About
The AWARE project aims to improve public health responses to climate change by expanding our early warning system for diarrheal diseases. Building on the success of the AWARD-APR initiative, we’re collaborating with researchers from South Africa, Indonesia, India, Nepal, Taiwan, and Vietnam to understand how climate events like ENSO and monsoon anomalies impact disease burden.
By using machine learning, we’ll enhance our Early Warning System (EWS) and develop a mobile app to share disease forecasts with community health workers, NGOs, and local health departments. This will allow frontline responders to take timely action to protect vulnerable populations.
As extreme weather events increase, AWARE provides a vital tool for communities to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to climate-driven health threats, helping build resilience and reduce climate-related morbidity and mortality.
Team
The AWARE project team is a diverse group of professionals from eight countries, including experts in epidemiology, medicine, biostatistics, climate science, computer science, social science, and journalism.
Our team members range from junior researchers to seasoned investigators and come from a variety of institutions, including academic universities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and governmental bodies.
Consortium Lead
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Dr. Amir Sapkota — University of Maryland, USA
Sapkota's research group focuses on the intersection of climate change and human health with a particular emphasis on cardiopulmonary, renal and diarrheal diseases. His group's ongoing collaboration with the Maryland Department of Health has demonstrated the ongoing health impacts of climate change in our communities. On a global scale, the group is developing an early warning system for diarrheal disease in the Asia-Pacific Region.
Website: https://sph.umd.edu/people/amir-sapkota
Consortium Members (representatives of participating organizations)
Dr. Ron A. Yaros — University of Maryland, USA
Ronald Yaros is an associate professor of digital engagement at Merrill College and director of the Digital Engagement Lab. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and is also an Apple Distinguished Educator and certified developer for Apple, Google Play, and TikTok. His research focuses on how audiences seek, select, and share digital information, leading to the development of his “Digital Engagement Model.” His work is featured in The Digital Engagement Model (Springer Nature) and journals such as Science Communication and Frontiers in Media Psychology. Before academia, he was an Emmy Award–winning meteorologist recognized for producing the first Emmy-winning series on climate change.
Website: https://www.digitalengagementlab.org
Dr. Hao He — University of Maryland, USA
Dr. Hao He is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science at the University of Maryland (UMD). His research focuses on developing exposure matrices that integrate air quality and weather observations, as well as examining air quality–climate interactions, particularly under extreme weather conditions. Dr. He has extensive expertise in regional climate and air quality modeling, along with data analysis. His research has been supported by state and federal agencies including the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Website: https://aosc.umd.edu/people/hao-he
Dr. Pin Wang — University of Maryland, USA
Dr. Pin Wang is an environmental health specialist with a particular focus on climate epidemiology. His current work examines how climate-change-related extreme weather events, including drought, floods, extreme heat, and wildfires, individually and jointly affect population health.
Website: https://sph.umd.edu/people/pin-wang
Dr. Yu-Chun Wang — Chung Yuan Christian University, TW / Academia Sinica, TW
My research focused on climate change-related health risks and assessments of strategy and communications for community-based adaptations. Now serving as Professor and Dean of the Department of Institutional Research and Sustainable Development at Chung Yuan Christian University, I am dedicated to promoting sustainable development in education and research for students and communities. I serve as Chair in Future Earth Taipei Health group and am a member in the Steering Committee of Future Earth Health Knowledge-Action Network.
Website: [Personal website]
Dr. Kung-Yueh Chao — Executive Director, International Climate Development Institute / Assistant Research Fellow, National Central University, Taiwan
Kung-Yueh Camyale Chao is Executive Director of ICDI and Secretary-General of IFMS. With more than 20 years of climate and sustainability experiences, he is one of the leading experts in climate policy and green transition fields, and promotes inclusive, tech-driven climate solutions across Asia and the Global South.
Website: https://icdi.network/
Dr. Neville Sweijd — ACCESS, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Dr Neville Sweijd is the ACCESS Director and Associate Professor in the School for Climate Studies at the University of Stellenbosch. Dr Sweijd completed his PhD in 1999 in marine sciences at the University of Cape Town. He has held several senior positions in the CSIR, as the Director of the BENEFIT programme in Namibia (now the Benguela Current Convention) and at the University of the Western Cape. He is the deputy-President of the Scientific Committee on Problems in the Environment (SCOPE), and the Editor-in-Chief of Environmental Development. He has several research interests generally associated with changing seasonality and extreme events as they manifest in the marine sector and in human health.
Website: www.access.ac.za ; https://climate.sun.ac.za/
Dr. Janine Wichmann — University of Pretoria, South Africa
Bio: I am an environmental epidemiologist with a primary interest in air pollution and climate change health effects. Since joining University of Pretoria almost 12 years ago, I have successfully supervised 13 Honours level, 15 MPH, 12 MSc and 12 PhD students. I also supervised MSc and PhD students from other local and international universities.
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Dr. Sari Kovats — London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK
Dr. Sari Kovats is an Associate Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She has a PHD in environmental epidemiology and is an expert in climate risk assessment.
Dr. Cherie Part — London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK
Chérie Part is a Research Fellow in the Department of Public Health, Environments and Society at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Chérie has a PhD in Veterinary Epidemiology. She is an expert in environmental epidemiology, particularly statistical methods to assess the health impacts of weather variability and climate change.
Website: https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/aboutus/people/part.cherie
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Dr. Meghnath Dhimal — Nepal Health Research Council
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Dr. Rajeev Shrestha— Dhulikel Hospital Kathmandu University
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Dr. Azizah — Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia
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Cicik Sri Rejeki — Gugah Nurani Indonesia (GNI)
My name is Cicik Sri Rejeki, as Community Development Professional with more twenty years experience in the development organization with donor funded programs. Experience worked at international and local NGO. Have Strong and depth understanding on Child Protection, Health, Education and Social Economy issues.
Website: www.gnindonesia.org
Dr. Veena Iyer — Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar, India
Dr. Veena Iyer's research in infectious disease surveillance and climate–health interactions found a surprising contrast: typhoid cases rose during El Niño in Ahmedabad, an inland city, but fell in Surat, a coastal city — underscoring the nuanced impact of climate variability on urban disease dynamics.
Website: https://iiphg.edu.in/dr-veena-iyer/
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Dr. Purohit — AKAS, India
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Dr. Roxy Mathew Koll — Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune.
Dr. Roxy Mathew Koll, a Climate Scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, has made pioneering contributions to understanding and predicting extreme weather and climate events across the Indo-Pacific, including monsoon floods, droughts, heatwaves, and cyclones. His recent work focuses on developing AI/ML-powered climate-smart health warning systems to strengthen early action and resilience. Recognized globally, he is a Lead Author of the IPCC Reports, a Fellow of AGU, a recipient of the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar (2024), and among the top 2% of scientists ranked by Stanford University.
Website: https://www.climate.rocksea.org/people/roxy-mathew-koll/
Dr. Thu Dang — Hue University, Vietnam
Dr. Dang Thi Anh Thu is the Dean of the Faculty of Public Health at Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Vietnam. She received her medical degree from Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy and her PhD in Public Health from Queensland University of Technology, Australia. Her research centers on environmental health, with a particular emphasis on the health impacts of climate change, and she is committed to advancing evidence-based strategies that strengthen community resilience to environmental and climate-related challenges.
Website: https://huemed-univ.edu.vn/#