Jesse E. Bell

Jesse E. Bell, PhD, is the Claire M. Hubbard Professor of Water, Climate, and Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and affiliated with the School of Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He serves as Director of the Water, Climate and Health Program at UNMC and leads the Water, Climate and Health initiative at the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute. Additionally, he holds an adjunct professorship at Emory University's Department of Environmental Health.

Education:

• PhD, The University of Oklahoma (2009)
• BS, Emporia State University (2003)

Dr. Bell's research investigates the complex interplay between climate variability, extreme weather, and public health outcomes. His work focuses on drought impacts, heat-related illness, airborne dust health effects, and climate data integration into health research. He has pioneered frameworks for drought preparedness, suicide risk assessment, and geospatial health vulnerability mapping.

His recent publications highlight interdisciplinary applications of NASA Earth observations, geospatial modeling, and climate data in understanding drought's health impacts, wildfire-related mortality, and environmental contamination risks. Key methodologies include Bayesian spatiotemporal analysis and climate-health informatics.

Dr. Bell previously established the first interagency collaboration between NOAA and CDC to study climate's impact on health, laying groundwork for his current research. He has authored over 70 scientific articles and contributed to major federal assessments, including the U.S. Global Change Research Program report (2016) and the Fifth National Climate Assessment.