Public Health News

Our WKU Department of Public Health has a new publication in Science Direct! Ethan Given, a graduate of our Masters in Public Health (MPH) program is second author in publication.

Given did the research as part of his thesis work for the MPH program. This work was a partnership that WKU Associate Professor Ritchie Taylor, established with the USDA, Food Animal Environmental Systems Research Unit, located at the WKU Center for Research and Development.

Given and Taylor worked directly with Dr. Kim Cook, Microbiologist and Rohan Parekh, Microbiology Laboratory Technician. The thesis work resulted from a grant WKU had, in partnership with the USDA, through the Center for Produce Safety.

The grant provided full tuition and a Graduate Research stipend each semester to the student for four semesters. This was a basic and applied research project to improve food safety related to Salmonella contamination in the production of leafy greens, such as lettuce and spinach.

The research is having an impact on the detection of Salmonella in the production of produce. A followup paper will focus on changes to irrigation water quality assessment protocols to improve public health protection.

Access to publication: http://www.sciencedirect.com/…/article/pii/S0168160517304051