Students and faculty from the COPH made a strong impression with their ideas about the future at the 2026 Florida Public Health Association Educational Conference in Orlando, which featured the theme “Committing to Excellence Through Collaborations and Continuity.”

Malaria, a vector-borne infectious disease that kills more than 600,000 people each year, has an uncanny ability to slip through the cracks of health care systems in many countries around the world. How so many of its infections evade routine surveillance is a question that Rihana Aydin seeks to answer.

When Hurricanes Helene and Milton struck in 2024, the storms not only left behind a trail of destruction but also exposed an often-overlooked challenge for local emergency responders: How hurricanes can disrupt the food system and make it harder for residents to access it when they need it most.