Lecturer in Public Health

Starting July 2022, I am the lead lecturer for the Public Health Protection unit and the unit co-ordinator for the Dissertation unit for the Masters in Public Health program at the University of Bedfordshire.

I am an infectious disease and environmental epidemiologist with a PhD in Public Health and BSc and MSc in Environmental Geosciences from the University of Utah, USA. I have extensive knowledge and teaching experience in public health topics including health policy and communication, public health planning, evaluation, and implementation, global public health practice and systems, applied epidemiology/clinical research methods, environmental and biological science in public health, mixed-methods approach in community based participatory research, health behaviour models, infectious disease epidemiology, Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WaSH) promotion, and statistical analysis of environmental and clinical data using SAS, STATA, R, ArcGIS.

My research focuses on global public health research and practice on the fate and transport of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the environment, its’ impacts on human health, and the need for health policy reform around antibiotic prescribing behaviour and antibiotic overuse/misuse, specifically in low-middle income countries. I have been actively involved in research projects including multidisciplinary teams of environmental consultants, epidemiologists, behavioural scientists, and healthcare professionals funded by U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, National Science Foundation (NSF), Utah Department of Health (UDOH), Utah Population Database (UPDB), Punjab Energy Development Agency, Punjab State Water Commission and Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board.

Qualifications

• PhD Public Health - University of Utah, USA
• MSc Environmental Geosciences – University of Utah, USA
• BSc Environmental Geosciences – University of Utah, USA

Teaching Expertise

• Lead lecturer for Public Health Protection unit for MSc Public Health
• Unit co-ordinator for Dissertation unit for MSc Public Health
• MSc dissertation supervisor
• Personal academic mentor

Research Interests

• Infectious disease epidemiology
• Global health
• Public health protection
• Community based participatory research (CBPR)
• Mixed-methods approach towards promoting antibiotic stewardship

Overseas Research Projects & Collaborations

• (U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Characterizing spread of antibiotic-resistant genes (carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE, carbapenems), extended-spectrum β-lactamase producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBLs), drug- resistant non-typhoidal Salmonella, drug-resistant Salmonella typhi, and drug-resistant Shigella) in two distinct river systems (rural dominated by CAFOs and urban dominated by WWTPs) using shotgun metagenomics in Midwest USA.
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: S. Typhi Survival and Gene Acquisition in Biofilm Communities.
• Utah Department of Health (UDOH): Wastewater sampling effort to detect SARS-CoV-2 gene in the Greater Salt Lake area in Utah to decipher “hot spots”.
• Global Change and Sustainability Research: Assessing the impact of seasonality due to monsoons on the prevalence of antibiotic resistant coli in groundwater and the threat to human health from increasing antibiotic resistance in groundwater in rural Punjab, India.
• iUtah Project (National Science Foundation): Spatial-temporal characterization of water isotopes (δ2H, δ18O) in tap water in Salt Lake Valley.

External Roles

• Peer reviewer for Utah Women’s Health Review (UWHR) journal
• Environmental Public Health Consultant (Rotary International and Mehar Baba Charitable Trust, India)
• American Public Health Association (Member)
• Geological Society of America (Member)

Publications

Articles

• Koric A, Singh B, VanDerslice JA, Stanford JB, Rogers CR, Egan DT, Agyemang DO, Schliep K. (2021). Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and Postpartum Depression Symptoms: A Population-based Cohort Study. Am J Obstet Gynecol. S0002-9378(20) 32632-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2020.12.1215.
• Singh B, VanDerslice JA, Johnson WP. (In progress 2022). Seasonality of Groundwater Physicochemical Properties and Antibiotic Resistant E. coli Prevalence in Punjab, India.
• Singh B, Tanner WD, Brazelton William, VanDerslice JA. (In progress 2022). Spatial relationship between the concentration of heavy metals in a water column and the concentration of resistant coli and abundance of ARGs.
• Singh B, Tanner WD, Brazelton William, VanDerslice JA. (In progress 2022). Assessing direct and indirect effect of sources of antibiotic resistance in two watersheds in the US using mediation analysis.

Published Reports

• Tanner WD, Brazelton W, VanDerslice JA, Singh B (CDC, 2018). Characterizing the association between sources of contamination and observed heavy metal concentrations in Blue and Rock River Watersheds in Midwest US.

Conference Presentations

• Singh, B., VanDerslice J., Johnson WP. Global Health Community Engagement Workshop to train WaSH promoters on Antibiotic Resistance, as part of the Bassi Pathana Collaborative Community Based Development Project (BP-CCDP) in Punjab, India. October 2016.
• Singh, B., VanDerslice J., Johnson WP. Seasonality of Groundwater Physicochemical Properties and Antibiotic Resistant E. coli Prevalence in Rural Punjab, India. Global Change and Sustainability Center Conference at University of Utah, Salt Lake City. February 2017.
• Singh, B., Lopez I., Singh TP. Responsible antimicrobial stewardship and antibiotic prescription decision making – lessons from developed countries for the rapidly advancing ones. American Public Health Association (APHA) Virtual Conference. October 2020.

Contact Details

Room E407
University of Bedfordshire
University Square
Luton, LU1 3JU

T: +44 (0) 7398450415
E: bhavneet.singh@beds.ac.uk