Jessica is currently a graduate student at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and is employed by the Minnesota Department of Health. She has a BA in Geography from the University of Minnesota and is a former geography intern with NGS.

Mapping diseases goes way back. In the infamous Broad Street pump incident of 1854, John Snow mapped cases of cholera in a London neighborhood during an epidemic and noticed most cases were using water from the same pump. He removed the pump handle and the epidemic came to a halt. Now there is a whole field of study dedicated mapping diseases and health geographics, and I want in!

Maps easily show the distribution of diseases. This visualization of the distribution is useful for many applications in public health. For example, if you were planning a campaign to distribute mosquito nets in Africa to prevent malaria, a map would show you that malaria is not endemic in the Sahara desert as it is Sub-Saharan Africa. The map helps you prioritize net distribution to the highest risk areas. Such maps are relevant for all diseases across the field of public health.

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