Dr. Mark D. Sobsey, inventor of the Aquagenx Compartment Bag Test (CBT) and Kenan Distinguished Professor, Environmental Sciences & Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is giving a keynote speech at the 2015 Water and Health Conference organization by The Water Institute.

His speech is titled “Innovations in WaSH Technology to Improve Performance, Access, Acceptance and Sustainability: An Academic’s Experience.”  It will be given on Thursday, 29 October at 3:45 p.m. EST.

An important focus of this research is to combine microbial detection of pathogens (and microbial indicators for them) in these media with human health effects studies (such as diarrheal disease prevalence and incidence) in populations exposed to these media in order to quantify disease risks and burdens, devise and evaluate interventions to reduce these risks, such as water treatment processes that reduce pathogen, and use this information to conduct risk assessments and inform policy decisions for risk management.This research shifts the axis of the University to work that informs integrated environmental decision-making and influences State, national and global policy on water, sanitation and health.