Abstract: A wave of epidemiological evidence in WASH has stimulated both panic among advocates and a re-thinking of WASH’s value proposition as an essential component of public health infrastructure. In this talk, Brown will report results from the Maputo Sanitation (MapSan) trial, the largest controlled health impact trial to date of decentralized urban sanitation improvements, conducted from 2013 – 2019. Results from this and other recent trials open the way for new research, and provide important new context for scientists and engineers pursuing these critical interventions.

Bio: Dr. Joe Brown is an assistant professor in environmental engineering.  Brown comes to Georgia Tech from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where he served as a lecturer in the Department of Disease Control, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases.  Brown’s research and teaching interests are at the intersection of environmental engineering and public health, including water infrastructure sustainability, detection methods for pathogens and pathogen indicators in the environment, water treatment technology characterization and innovation, and human health effects of exposure to waterborne pathogens.  He is a Professional Engineer (PE) with licensure in North Carolina and Alabama.