Dickson Despommier

Dickson D. Despommier File:Dickson Despommier underground.JPG Dickson Despommier in the New York City subway.
Born	(1940-06-05) June 5, 1940 New Orleans, Louisiana
Citizenship	American
Fields	parasitology ecology
Institutions	Columbia University Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health and Department of Microbiology, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Alma mater	Columbia University, Medical Parasitology University of Notre Dame, Microbiology
Thesis	The in vivo and in vitro analysis of acquired resistance to Trichinella spiralis infections in mice. (1967)
Known for	Vertical Farming Medical Ecology of West Nile Virus Urban Sustainable Agricultural Initiatives Emerging Infectious Disease Ecology The Trichinella Page Medica Ecology The Vertical Farm
Influenced	Rene Dubos, Miklos Muller, Vincent Racaniello
Notable awards	American Medical Student Association National Teaching Award 2003

Dickson Despommier at Pop!Tech 2008

Dickson D. Despommier (born June 5, 1940) is an emeritus professor of microbiology and Public Health at Columbia University. From 1971-2009, he conducted research on intracellular parasitism and taught courses on Parasitic Diseases, Medical Ecology and Ecology. In recent years, Despommier has received considerable media coverage for his ideas on vertical farming. He developed his concept of vertical farming over a 10-year period with graduate students in a medical ecology class beginning in 1999, with work continued by Ontarian eco-architects like Gordon Graff from the University of Waterloo's School of Architecture.

Despommier is also co-host of three popular podcasts along with Vincent Racaniello, namely TWIV (This Week in Virology), TWIP (This Week in Parasitism) and Urban Agriculture.

Research

Despommier has research interest in the ecotone, a transition area between two biomes, as a zone of high disease transmission and also in the spread of schistosomiasis, malaria, and a variety of helminths (ascaris, hookworm, trichuris) in agricultural areas. Despommier has studied the ecology of West Nile virus with a focus on related patterns of weather.

Research and findings for various Trichinella spiralis topics have resulted in a large body of literature. Despommier is especially known for his research findings in this area which lead to numerous advances in our understanding of the muscle stage of the organism and how it maintains itself in the host for long periods of time in the Nurse cell/parasite complex (weeks to years in some cases).

Vertical Farming

Main article: Vertical Farming

Despommier is concerned about protecting food crops from severe weather events such as floods and droughts. He has explored the feasibility of raising crops indoors in multistory buildings within the urban landscape.

In June, 2008 Despommier appeared on the Colbert Report, where he described the concept of vertical farming to Stephen Colbert.

Concepts of Medical Ecology, a course taught by Despommier, are summarized in 18 presentations.

Publications

• The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century
• West Nile Story. Apple Trees Productions, LLC. 2000 ISBN 978-0-9700027-1-6 ASIN B0095WL4I6;
• Parasitic Diseases 5th ed. 2005. Apple Trees Productions, LLC Despommier, DD., Gwadz, R.G., Hotez, PJ., Knirsch, C.A. ISBN 0-9700027-7-7 (out of print);
• People, Parasites, and Plowshares. Columbia University Press, 2013 ISBN 978-0-231-16194-7

Books

Despommier has authored or co-authored seven books.

Photography

Despommier is a photographer, winning several awards.

External links

• Columbia University Bio
• Despommier Photo Art
• TWIP
• TWIV
• World Science Festival Bio