Department of Public Health Education
Yorghos Apostolopoulos, PhD
Associate Professor
PO Box 26170
Greensboro, NC 27402-6170
(336) 256-8682 (office)
(336) 334-3238 (fax)
y_aposto@uncg.edu
I am a social epidemiologist with a background in sociology (PhD, University of Connecticut, 1994) and extensive hands-on epidemiological experience. My areas include social epidemiology, public health demography, global and migrant health, health behavior, and research methodology.
Grounded in social ecological and social cognitive theoretical frameworks, my research examines the ways social structure and the built environment affect health outcomes across diverse populations and geographies. In this context, my transdisciplinary work delves into: (1) population mobility, social networks, and infectious disease; (2) occupational and environmental health in the transport sector; (3) substance use and sexual health of young adults; (4) physical activity, dietary patterns, and NCDs; and (5) travel medicine. Besides North America, I have conducted epidemiological fieldwork in Cyprus, Ethiopia, Greece, and the UAE.
I am currently involved in three sets of research projects:
- Health disparities among working-class populations: (1) Trucker networks, geography, substances, and STI/HIV risk; (2) Trucking built environment and NCD comorbidities of drivers; and (3) Mobile migrant laborers and occupational health.
- Substance misuse and STI risk among young adults in high-risk drinking environments: (1) The social ecology of healthy nightlife settings (such as urban bars and holiday resorts); (2) Etiology of health and safety risks in nightlife settings; and (3) Feasibility of online surveys in health promotion research in nightlife settings.
- Epidemiology of travel and the promotion of healthy and safe travel: (1) Health risk assessment associated with travel; and (2) Risk and disease surveillance, mapping, and early warning systems.
Representative samples of recent work include:
- Population Mobility and Infectious Disease (Springer, 2007)
- Sexual networks of truckers, truckchasers, and disease risks (Routledge, 2007)
- Binge drinking and casual sex on spring break (Annals of Tourism Research, 2006)
- Vacation travel as preventive medicine (CCC, 2009)
- STI/HIV risks for Mexican migrant laborers: Exploratory ethnographies (Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 2007)
- Tracing the diffusion of infectious diseases in the transport sector (Springer, 2007)
In 2004, Discover magazine reported on my work on the role of long-haul truckers in disease trasmission (Forbidden science: What can studies of pornography, prostitutes, and seedy truckstops contribute to society?). With population mobility as a critical link in disease trasmission, I am currently working on several journal manuscripts on truck drivers, their social and risk networks on and around highways, drug use, and their associated risk for STI/HIV infection and diffusion.
Prior to joining UNCG in 2009, my last US academic post was with the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Emory University School of Medicine, where I served as an associate professor of social epidemiology (currently continue as clinical associate professor of medicine). Over the past three years, I have lectured at public health institutions in Cyprus, Greece, and the UAE.