Internships

Celine Ho ’25

Major

Molecular Biology

Project Title

Climate Story Incubator: Coastal Futures

Presentation Link

View Celine's Presentation

Certificate(s):  Global Health and Health Policy

I studied the health implications of hurricanes and floods along the Eastern Seaboard. I focused on Hepatitis A, a viral infection that attacks the liver. Hepatitis A is commonly transmitted via the consumption of contaminated food or water, and such transmission often spikes after flooding events and other natural disasters. The high development of agricultural areas across the Eastern Seaboard followed the average trajectory of hurricanes from 2005 to 2021. The purpose of my research was to use scholarly findings of Hepatitis A patterns as a control variable for different locations, to unveil external factors of social disparities that result from a natural disaster. The goal was to identify how different communities respond to extreme weather events and environmental changes in hyper-localized areas. I worked with members of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Massachusetts General Hospital, and residents in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, who have been directly devastated by hurricanes. I learned that the repercussions of hurricanes are complex and everlasting. From immediate health onsets to crowding responses in shelters, climate disasters are multilayered. These problems ask us to rethink and reconnect issues of human health and climate even at the most microscopic levels.