Is Hezbollah using health services to attract recruits? Does public health have a place in counterinsurgency? How do tactics or strategies address civilian hospitals in war zones? When do civil wars trigger epidemics? Is global health a national security issue? I think about these questions all day, everyday.
I am passionate about the relationship between armed conflict and health. What does this mean? Simply put, I am obsessed with figuring out how armies, militias, insurgents, transnational criminals, pirates, and terrorists use, exploit, build, and destroy health systems and the health of populations. I indulge this passion daily as a political science Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Davis. My research has taken me from the streets of Geneva to the flight decks of US Navy warships. At UC Davis, I specialize in international relations, research methodology, and public health.
On January 1st 2008, I launched Conflict Health, an online publication with daily opinion and analysis on armed conflict and public health. Conflict Health is read by experts, policymakers, journalists, and academics in the international relations, defense, and global health communities. I regularly contribute to the United States Naval Institute blog and other publications. In addition, I am a contributing editor at Current Intelligence, an online and print magazine on international issues.
Before coming to UC Davis, I attended the University of Miami where I triple majored in Religious Studies, International Studies, and Political Science.
I live in Durban, South Africa with my wife, Jen.