What's rice got to do with it?

V Koski-Karell, MD, PhD will discuss the role of rice in the 2010-2019 Haiti cholera epidemic and how it sparked collaborative research into the biosocial dimensions of rice importation and consumption there. Drawing on over twelve years of traveling and studying Haiti, Koski-Karell will review the significance of Haiti's first-ever cholera epidemic and use its causative pathogen, Vibrio cholerae, as a complicated symbol linking global health equity and One Health.

One way it does so is through rice. In 2017 and in partnership with a rural organization of Haitian growers, Koski-Karell assembled a team of University of Michigan faculty led by Jackie Goodrich, PhD (U-M School of Public Health) to launch an investigation into the hidden risks of rice imported into Haiti, namely from the United States. Together, rice and cholera demonstrate how One Health and global health equity complement each other and also expose their limitations as fields of both practice and theory. Our speaker will discuss their project, findings, and the many challenges they've faced along the way to bring to light a serious food safety concern with deep-rooted implications that ultimately contribute to the structural vulnerability that fueled cholera's spread. The session will be moderated by Goodrich.