Editorial Board

Editor-in-Chief

Behzad Kiani
Frazer Institute, Faculty of Health, Medicine, and Behavioural Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

E-mail: B.kiani@uq.edu.au | ORCID

Dr. Behzad Kiani is a geospatial scientist and spatial epidemiologist whose research focuses on the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), spatial statistics, and advanced analytical methods to address public health challenges. His work spans infectious disease epidemiology, climate-sensitive diseases, health service accessibility, spatial decision-support systems, and the integration of geospatial technologies into disease surveillance and control. Dr. Kiani received his PhD in Medical Informatics with a specialization in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and has held academic and research positions in Iran, Canada, and Australia. He is currently a Research Fellow at The University of Queensland, Australia, where he leads and collaborates on interdisciplinary research aimed at improving public health through innovative geospatial approaches. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications in international journals and has established extensive collaborations with researchers and institutions worldwide. His contributions include the development and application of spatial epidemiological methods, machine learning techniques, and decision-support frameworks for infectious disease prevention and control, particularly in the context of climate change and environmental health.
As Chief Editor of Geospatial Health, Dr. Kiani is committed to advancing methodological excellence, scientific integrity, and interdisciplinary collaboration. His editorial vision is to strengthen the journal as a leading international platform for innovative research at the intersection of geospatial science and health, promoting reproducible research, emerging analytical approaches, and evidence that informs policy and practice.
 

Senior Editor

Robert Bergquist
Ingeröd 407, S-45494 Brastad, Sweden
Tel. +46.523.43336

E-mail: editor@geospatialhealth.net

Dr Robert Bergquist is a Swedish citizen with main interests in research in autoimmunity, diagnostics, vaccine development, ecology, mapping and satellite-generated remote sensing with special reference to human parasites. He is author/co-author of 300+ articles, most of them in the areas mentioned above. Dr Bergquist studied at the University of Uppsala and Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden resulting in MD 1967 and PhD in 1974, the latter based on diagnostic techniques as applied to human autoimmune diseases. After a year long post-docoral sejour at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, NY, USA, he took up the position asDirector of Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI) for leprosy, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 1975but returned home already after a year because of political instability in Ethiopia. He then assisted in the development of a new Department of Parasitology at the National Bacteriological Laboratory of Sweden establishing various parasite life cycles and developing diagnostic techniques for hepatitis B and Microsporida. Dr Bergquist was in charge of schistosomiasis at TDR/WHO, Geneva, Switzeralnd 1985-2001, simultaneously leading the Joint Research Management Committee of the World Bank Loan for support of schistosomiasis control in China 1992-2001 and the Schistosomiasis Vaccine Development Programme in Egypt 1997-2001. He is currently affiliated with the, Swiss TPH, Basel, Switzerland. Dr Bergquist has served several years as Editor-in-Chief for Geospatial Health, and keeps collaborating with the Journal as Senior Editor.

 

Associate Editors

Laura Rinaldi
University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy
Tel. +39.081.2536281

E-mail: lrinaldi@unina.it | ORCID

Laura Rinaldi (MSc, PhD in Veterinary Sciences) is Full Professor of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases and Deputy Dean at the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production, University of Napoli Federico II, Italy. She has more than 20 years of experience in the field of parasitic diseases of veterinary and medical importance. Since 2020 she is the designated Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Diagnosis of Intestinal Helminths and Protozoa. She is currently coordinator/principal investigator/work package leader of several national and EU projects. Key research topics include epidemiology (using geospatial tools), diagnosis and control of helminth parasites in animals and humans.

Jürg Utzinger
Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland
Tel. +41.61.2848129
E-mail: juerg.utzinger@unibas.ch | ORCID 

Jürg Utzinger is the Director of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) and Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Basel. He is trained in environmental sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and holds a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Basel. Utzinger pursued several years of postdoctoral research in demography and epidemiology at Princeton University in the US. His research, teaching and training interests pertain to the epidemiology and integrated control of neglected tropical disease with a particular focus on schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis, as well as malaria and health impact assessment of large footprint projects in low- and middle-income countries. Utzinger is engaged in transnational global health consortia with ongoing projects in Africa and Asia.

Sherif Amer
Department of Urban and Regional Planning and Geo-information Management, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands (retired)
E-mail:  s.amer@utwente.nl | ORCID 

Dr. Sherif Amer worked as a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation of the University of Twente, The Netherlands. He has a background both in human geography and geoinformation science. Research activities focus on the application of GIS/RS for spatial planning of health services, analysis of socio-spatial health seeking patterns, and the relation between socio-economic characteristics, life style and health status, mainly at urban and regional scale. He is involved in co-supervision of PhD students on various geospatial health topics such as, for example, environmental risk factors for schistosomiasis transmission, and stunting. As external involved in PhD research on malaria transmission in Southern Tanzania, and in doctoral research on epidemiological and spatiotemporal patterns of visceral leishmaniasis in West Pokot, Kenya.  For many years, he has been closely involved in capacity development assignments for, and in collaboration with, academic partners in the Global South, in countries such as Indonesia, China, Malawi, Egypt, Jordan, Tanzania and Rwanda. He is currently chair of the International Society of Geospatial Health (GnosisGIS) and member of the International Society of Urban Health (ISUH). He became involved in the journal Geospatial Health in 2017, first serving as a member of the editorial board and as associate editor from 2020 onwards.  

 

Editorial Board

Veronica Andreo, Instituto de Altos Estudios Espaciales Mario Gulich (CONAE), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET), Cordoba, Argentina 
Carmen Anthonj, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
Ellen-Wien Augustijn, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
Annibale Biggeri, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
Donal Bisanzio, International Development Group, RTI International, Washington DC, USA; University of Notthingam, School of Medicine, Nottingham, UK
Justine Blanford, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
Dolores Catelan, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
Johannes Flacke, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
Marco Genchi, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
Ori Gudes, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Guy Hendrickx, AVIA-GIS, Zoersel, Belgium
Peng Jia, International Institute of Spatial Lifecourse Epidemiology (ISLE); School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
Uriel Kitron, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA
Fedor Korennoy, Federal Center for Animal Health, Vladimir, Russia
Lydia Leonardo, University of the Philippines, College of Public Health, Manila, Philippines
Jeffrey C. Luvall
, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, USA
John B. Malone, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
Samuel O. Manda, South African Medical Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa
Santiago Mas-Coma, University of Valéncia, Burjassot-Valéncia Spain
Samson Mukaratirwa, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Vincenzo Musella, Department of Health Sciences, Magna Græcia University, Catanzaro, Italy
Naoko Nihei, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan
Nicolas M. Oreskovic
, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Frank Osei, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
Ximena Porcasi Gòmez, Instituto de Altos Estudios Espaciales Mario Gulich, Centro Espacial Teófilo Tabanera, CONAE, Cordoba, Argentina
Ricardo J. Soares Magalhães, School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, Australia
Peter Steinmann, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland
Anna-Sofie Stensgaard, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Sami Ullah, School of Mathematics, Statistics, and Mechanics, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China 
Arve Lee Willingham, Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Agriculture & Veterinary Medicine, Al Ain, UAE
Mirko Winkler, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland
Guo-Jing Yang, School of Public Health, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China
Zhijie Zhang
, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Fudan University, China
Xiaonong Zhou, National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Shanghai, China

 

Founder

Giuseppe Cringoli, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy