Award: Postdoctoral Award for her project titled “The use of Spatial Video Geonarratives to Describe Localized Environmental Risk Patterns for Arboviral Transmission in Urban Kenya” (2018)

Total Award Amount: $75,000

Method: Dr. Krystosik has been partnering with Andrew Curtis, PhD, at Kent State University since 2014 to implement spatial video geonarrative (SVG) methodology in her research. Dr. Curtis pioneered the method, which maps an environment using geospatial data collection, spatial analysis, and environment-inspired dialogues that add contextual insights. The dialogues, or geonarratives, are collected from different stakeholders in a community.

Another kind of nature walk: Dr. Krystosik wanted to learn more about environmental risk factors associated with disease risk in urban Kenya. Partnering with Associate Professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases A. Desiree LaBeaud, MD, MS, the team already knew where children were being infected by dengue and chikungunya and were monitoring how disease was circulating. To learn more about the environment, Dr. Krystosik relied on SVG methods. Kenyan residents made video and audio recordings of their communities, pointing out places of interest along the way. Dr. Krystosik and Dr. LaBeaud asked them to indicate where the mosquitos breed, where they feel comfortable cleaning up their environment, where they feel more at risk. As more geonarratives were collected, hot spots emerged.

Findings and Future Goals: “You start to see overlaps,” explains Dr. Krystosik. “Either you'll see that there is an overlap of the disease and the environmental risk. Or, you'll see where there is little disease, or where apparent environmental risk factors like trash accumulation are absent. This is something we want to replicate in other areas.”

• Dr. Krystosik wants to use her research findings to inform policy makers at the Ministry of Health in Kenya. She hopes resources can be allocated to prevent disease in places with high environmental risk and also in populations especially at-risk, including the elderly, children, and pregnant women.
• Dr. Krystosik is also working with Jenna Forsyth, PhD. The two are teaming up on the Trash for Treasure project funded by the BOVA network. Using SVG methods, Dr. Krystosik is studying the intersection of disease and environmental risk pre- and post-entrepreneurial intervention.

MCHRI impact: “MCHRI was the first organization to support my work at Stanford when I arrived as a postdoc,” Dr. Krystosik says. “They were able to supply me the funding to remain as a postdoc for these last two-three years, which has been great for many other opportunities.”

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