Environmental Health Scicnces School of Public Health University of California, Berkeley University of California, Berkeley
Site Map
EHS: assessing exposure and health impacts; protecting the community and workplace.
Robert C. Spear
Professor
Ph. D. Cambridge University, 1968
Robert C. Spear  
Email:
spear@berkeley.edu
 
Website:
Schistosomiasis in China
 
Tel:
(510) 642-0761
 
Fax:
(510) 642-5815
 
Office:
749 University Hall
 

Mailing Address:
School of Public Health
University of California
50 University Hall #7360
Berkeley, CA 94720-7360

Teaching
PH 150B Introduction to Environmental Health (Sp) [description]
 
PH 270A Exposure Assessment and Control (F) [description]
 

Research
Robert Spear research group: http://ehs.sph.berkeley.edu/china/
 
Dr. Spear's research interests focus on the assessment and quantification of human exposures to toxic and hazardous agents in the environment, principally the occupational environment including:
  • Mathematical modeling of toxicological and infectious processes
  • Statistical issues in exposure assessment
Ongoing research projects: Dr. Robert Spear is an engineer by training, having received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Engineering Science and Mechanical Engineering, respectively, from the University of California at Berkeley and the Ph.D. degree in Control Engineering from Cambridge University in 1968. After several years in the aerospace industry his interests turned to environmental issues and he returned to Berkeley in 1970 to take up a post-doctoral position in this field in the School of Public Health. He was appointed to a faculty position in 1971 and is now Professor of Environmental Health Sciences.
 
His research interests focus on the assessment and quantification of human exposures to toxic and hazardous agents in the environment, principally the occupational environment. His early work concerned the exposure of agricultural workers to pesticides. In more recent years his work has concerned applications of mathematical and statistical techniques in the assessment and control of exposures to both chemical and biological agents. His current work in this area is in collaboration with colleagues both at Berkeley and at the Sichuan Institute of Parasitic Disease focused on determinants of the incidence and control of schistosomiasis in the mountainous regions of Sichuan Province in southwestern China. In addition to dynamic systems analysis, this work involves applications of geographic information systems and remote sensing technology.
 
Dr. Spear is the founding Director of the University's Center for Occupational and Environmental Health and has served as Associate Dean of the School of Public Health and of the College of Engineering at Berkeley. He has served on a variety of committees advisory to the government and to industry as well as within the University. \He has authored or co-authored over 100 papers in the scientific literature.
 

Recent Publications
Liang S, Seto EY, Remais JV, Zhong B, Yang C, Hubbard A, Davis GM, Gu X, Qiu D, Spear RC. Environmental effects on parasitic disease transmission exemplified by schistosomiasis in western China. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Apr 24;104(17):7110-5. PMID: 17438266 [abstract]
 
Spear RC, Seto E, Remais J, Carlton EJ, Davis G, Qiu D, Zhou X, Liang S. Fighting waterborne infectious diseases. Science. 2006 Nov 17;314(5802):1081-3. available. PMID: 17110555 [abstract]
 
Xu B, Gong P, Seto E, Liang S, Yang C, Wen S, Qiu D, Gu X, Spear R. A spatial-temporal model for assessing the effects of intervillage connectivity in Schistosomiasis transmission. Annals Am Assoc Geographers. 2006 Mar;96(1):36-46. [abstract]
 
Seto EY, Zhong B, Kouch J, Hubbard A, Spear RC. Genetic and household risk factors for Schistosoma japonicum infection in the presence of larger scale environmental differences in the mountainous transmission areas of China. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2005 Dec;73(6):1145-50. [abstract]
 
Liang S, Spear RC, Seto E, Hubbard A, Qiu D. A multi-group model of Schistosoma japonicum transmission dynamics and control: model calibration and control prediction. Trop Med Int Health 2005 Mar;10(3):263-78. [abstract]
 
Qiu DC, Hubbard AE, Zhong B, Zhang Y, Spear RC. A matched, case-control study of the association between Schistosoma japonicum and liver and colon cancers, in rural China. Ann Trop Med Parasitol 2005 Jan;99(1):47-52. [abstract]