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Alexander F. More
Alexander More in 2021
Born
Alexander Frederick Medico More

1982 (age 41–42)
Italy
Education
Alma materHarvard University, Washington University in St. Louis
Known forImpact of Climate Change on Pandemics
Discovery of pollution drop during pandemics
Reset of toxic air pollution standards
Discovery of first public health and welfare systems
Scientific career
FieldsEnvironmental Health, Public Health, Climatology, Economic History
InstitutionsHarvard University, University of Massachusetts, Boston, Long Island University, New York University, Max Planck Society
WebsiteAlexander More

Alexander F. More is an American scientist (climate and health), economist, and science communicator. His discoveries include the impact of climate change on the largest pandemics in the last two millennia, the impact of pandemics on air pollution, and the resetting of toxic air pollution standards through highly detailed interdisciplinary research.[1][2][3][4][5] More also uncovered the creation of the first broad public health system during an environmental and climate crisis (the second pandemic).[6] He frequently appears as an expert commentator on national and global news stories on climate change and public health, as well as other issues of public policy, including immigration, sustainability and economic growth.[7] He worked as a staff member for Senator Ted Kennedy when he was drafting the Affordable Care Act, and continues to engage in public service and non-profit activities as part of several foundations.

Early life and education

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More was born in Italy. The extreme pollution affecting the region where he grew up motivated his later focus in his work on environmental change and economic growth driving it.[8][9] More moved briefly to Venice for his secondary education at the Scuola Navale Militare Francesco Morosini, but decided to leave Europe to attend college in the United States.[8] He traveled to New York City on his own and supported himself as he studied for college admission.[8][9] More attended Washington University in St. Louis, earning a bachelor’s degree in history with a minor in chemistry. While at Washington University, More supported himself by teaching, and working in the Biomedical Magnetic Resonance Laboratory of Dr. Joseph Ackerman, focusing on the design and implementation of research measuring the perfusion coefficient of water in HeLa cells.[1][3][4][8]

More graduated with honors from Washington University with a thesis based on original research. He was immediately admitted to Harvard University, where he pursued a fully funded PhD. Due to the several disciplines needed for his doctoral research, More designed and gained approval at Harvard for a rare (ad hoc) interdisciplinary PhD covering environmental, economic and public health fields.[1][3][10][4]

His doctoral work focused on the creation of the first government-sponsored public health and welfare policies, emerging as a result of environmental and epidemic crises in Europe. Among his advisers were Allan M. Brandt, Angeliki Laiou, Ernest R. May, Michael McCormick, Katharine Park and Philip J. Landrigan.[6][1][3][10][4]

While at Harvard, he received more than ten teaching awards and three university-wide Hoopes prizes (“for excellence in the art of teaching,” awarded for advising prize-winning theses).[1] More was a member of Winthrop House as non-resident tutor. In addition to a fully funded PhD, More was the recipient of the Dumbarton Oaks Junior Fellowship, the Arango Fund Grant, and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation fellowship.[1][3][10][4]

More is a first-generation college and PhD graduate, and a naturalized US citizen, having immigrated to the U.S. from Europe.[1][3][4]

Discoveries and Career

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More continued his career with a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard and the Climate Change Institute (2015-18), focusing on the impact of climate change and pollution on human and ecosystem health.[1][3][10][4] His research was funded by the Arcadia Fund of London.[11]

In 2019, More took a position as associate professor of environmental health at Long Island University, where he also directed the Honors College and was named fellow of the Theodore Roosevelt Institute. In 2021, More was elected chair of the Department of Public Health at Long Island University and led efforts to organize two global summits on human and ecosystem health, in collaboration with the Embassy of France, the government of Portugal and the National Council for Science and the Environment.[5][1][4][12] More is the main author of the Lisbon declaration of the Global Exploration Summit, committing all participants to the preservation of planetary health.[13] In 2022, More accepted a position as associate professor of environmental health at the University of Massachusetts Boston, which allowed him to be closer to Harvard and the Climate Change Institute where he continues to lead a research project on climate and health.[1][4] More is a research associate at the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard, the Max Planck Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean, and an Associate Research Professor at the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine.[1][4][14]

Impact of climate change on pandemics

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In 2020, More showed compelling evidence of the impact of environmental change on the emergence of the largest pandemic in human history (by number of victims), the “Spanish Flu.”[15] By combining multiple climate, environmental and epidemiological records, More showed how the Spanish Flu pandemic (caused by the avian H1N1 virus) was worsened if not caused by a six-year climate anomaly that affected Europe during World War I and until 1920.[16][17][18]

More showed that torrential rains and unusual cold weather (with an anomalous low-pressure system) facilitated the spread of the virus through the battlefields and cities of Europe.[15] The climate anomaly was worsened by the first widespread carpet bombing of Europe, which created dust clouds that eased condensation (or nucleation) of water, increasing precipitation throughout the conflict.[19] The same climate anomaly interrupted the normal migration pattern of birds which were one of the major carriers the disease, while floods from rivers and lakes where birds remained carried the disease to trenches and beyond. Lowered immune responses due to the cold, as well as well documented bacterial co-infections, increased the death toll of the pandemic.[15]

More explored the impact of climate change on the emergence of disease for other events such as the Cocoliztli epidemics and the second pandemic. His research has received global media coverage, reaching the top 5% of scientific outputs tracked by Altmetrics and other citation services.[20][21]

Impact of pandemics on pollution and reset of toxic metal pollution standards

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More is renowned as the author of several studies that reset consensus on pollution standards for toxic metals worldwide, predicting the drop in air pollution that occurs during pandemic events three years before the COVID-19 pandemic.[22][23][24][25][26] By showing that pollution levels dropped well below what scientists previously thought of as “natural levels” during pandemic events—when economic activity declines or ceases—More proved that no such “natural levels” of pollution exist. His research combined the highest resolution pollution and climate record for the last two millennia with highly detailed economic and epidemiological records.[22][27] More pioneered this interdisciplinary work, using retrospective epidemiological (historical) data he sourced as well as ice core data produced and analyzed by cutting-edge systems and a team under the guidance of Dr. Paul Andrew Mayewski at the Climate Change Institute.[28][29] World renowned experts in lead pollution such as Philip J. Landrigan hailed More’s research as revealing the true nature of modern pollution.[30][31]

Consilience

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More is a well-known proponent of scientific approaches that lead to consilience,[32] a concept popularized by Harvard ecologist E. O. Wilson, which describes the convergence of multiple independent data sources to remove bias and represent a reality or solve a problem which would not be clear if only one discipline or type of data were used. More has adopted Wilson’s methodology and applied it to his research, arguing that only this type of systems approach would be able to solve complex crises such as climate change and pandemics.[33] He pioneered the transdisciplinary use of ultra-high-resolution climate data in combination with highly detailed retrospective epidemiological and economic (historical) data.[23] More has also highlighted how consilience and systems dynamics predicted environmental and economic crises fairly accurately more than fifty years in advance.

First Public Health Policies

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More’s research has uncovered the creation of the first government-sponsored public health and welfare system in western history, during an environmental crisis and on the eve of the second pandemic. Through extensive research he identified the site as the Republic of Venice, where sophisticated economic policies provided a continuous food supply with limited inflation, even during periods of extreme weather patterns (droughts, failed harvests, floods).[6] In the same republic, broad public health measures guaranteed the safety of food as well as widespread access to medical care for the poor and all citizens.[34] More demonstrated that the US Constitution contains clauses inspired by the same policies he uncovered, which were known to the framers.[6]

Awards and Honors

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In 2021, More was elected Fellow of Royal Society for Public Health and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.[1][4] Upon his recruiting by Long Island University, he was elected Fellow of the Theodore Roosevelt Institute (2019-2022).[5] In 2009, he became a junior Fellow of Harvard’s Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.[35] More is also a fellow of the Linnaean Society of New York and The Explorers Club of New York.[1][4] As an active scientist in the fields of environmental health and climate science, More is a member of the American Public Health Association, the National Environmental Health Association, the American Geophysical Union, the Planetary Health Alliance, and member and UN Representative of the Global Council for Science and the Environment.[1][4][5] `

Media

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More appears frequently in TV and print media as a commentator and expert for climate and health stories. He and his research have been featured in news reports on CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Forbes, Newsweek, The Times of London, The Guardian, Popular Science and many more outlets in several languages.[36][37][38][39][40][41][16][19][7][42]Discovery Channel also dedicated an episode to him on their Discovery+ network.[43] In his TED talk and other interviews, More has emphasized the crucial role of scientists in engaging the public in their discoveries.[33][44][9][45][46]

Public service

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More has served as a staff member in the office of Senator Ted Kennedy while he was drafting the Affordable Care Act. After Kennedy’s passing, More continued serving under his replacement, Paul G. Kirk, in 2009-10. He declined an offer to continue serving under Scott Brown.[1][4] As he discussed in several interviews,[8][9] More pursued this unpaid position because he wanted the chance to work on the bill (ACA) that would grant Americans universal health care, a right and policy he has worked on throughout his career. Although an early version of the bill, drafted by Kennedy, did include an option for universal coverage, after his death this was removed. More worked on issues of immigration while serving in the Senate.[8][9]

Non-profit

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More serves on several board of directors of non-profits, including the Daniels Family Sustainable Energy Foundation,[47] Blue Ocean Watch,[48] and has served briefly on the Board of The Explorers Club (TEC). More chairs the program committee for Climate Week, at TEC, promoting cutting-edge scientific discoveries and partnerships between governments, scientists and the private sector. His sponsors have included UNESCO, IUCN, African Parks, Solutions Journalism Network, and Discovery Channel. More has also led the organization of several global summits committing the participant nations and scientists to protecting ecosystem and human health in an endeavor to find solutions to climate and environmental change, as well as emerging epidemics. [13][5]

Main Works

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Scholia has a profile for Ildominante/sandbox ().
  • More, Alexander F.; Gona, P. (2022). "Bacterial pathogens and Climate Change". The Lancet. 400 (10369): 2161–2163. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02424-2.
  • Yajima, R.; More, Alexander F.; Garvan, C.; Harper, C.; Grimes, K. V. (2022). "A US clinical trial network is needed for the next pandemic". Nature Medicine. 28: 1330–1331. doi:10.1038/s41591-022-01831-1.
  • More, Alexander F. (2023). "aDNA Evidence of the Introduction of Infectious Diseases in the Americas". Les Nouvelles de l'Archeologie. 169: 69–75.
  • More, Alexander F.; Loveluck, C. P.; Clifford, H.; Handley, M. J.; Korotkikh, E. V.; Kurbatov, A. V.; Mccormick, M.; Mayewski, P. A. (2020). "The Impact of a Six-Year Climate Anomaly on the "Spanish Flu" Pandemic and WWI". GeoHealth. 4 (9): e2020GH000277. doi:10.1029/2020GH000277.
  • More, Alexander. F.; Loveluck, C. P.; Clifford, H.; Handley, M. J.; Korotkikh, E. V.; Kurbatov, A. V.; Mccormick, M.; Mayewski, P. A. (2018). "The Role of Historical Context in Understanding Past Climate, Pollution and Health Data in Trans-disciplinary Studies". GeoHealth. 2 (5): 162–170. doi:10.1029/2017GH000121.
  • More, Alexander F.; Loveluck, C. P.; Clifford, H.; Handley, M. J.; Korotkikh, E. V.; Kurbatov, A. V.; Mccormick, M.; Mayewski, P. A. (2017). "Next-generation ice core technology reveals true minimum natural levels of lead (Pb) in the atmosphere: Insights from the Black Death". GeoHealth. 1 (4): 211–219. doi:10.1002/2017GH000064.
  • More, A. F. (2022). "Climate change at the turn of the millennium: new evidence from the consilience of natural and written records". Collège de France – CNRS Monographies. 57: 355–374.
  • More, Alexander F.M. (2014). At the Origins of Welfare Policy. Harvard University and ProQuest. Retrieved July 14, 2023.

Selected Editorials

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More, Alexander F.; Mayewski, P. A.; Norchi, C. (November 1, 2020). "Why Climate Matters to Your Security, Health and Wealth". Journal of the North Atlantic and Arctic (also syndicated in Why Climate Matters and Global Geneva). Retrieved July 14, 2023.

More, Alexander F.; Mayewski, P. A.; Norchi, C. (September 20, 2021). "The Hindu Kush Himalaya: An Endangered "Water Tower" in a Warming World". Why Climate Matters and Global Geneva. Retrieved July 14, 2023.


See also

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Lead poisoning, Spanish Flu

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Professional Profile for Alexander More at Harvard University". Harvard University. December 1, 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  2. ^ "Professional Profile for Alexander More at the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine". University of Maine. December 19, 2017. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g More, Alexander F.M. (2010). "Initiative for the Science of the Human Past – Alexander More at Harvard University". Harvard University. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Profile for Alexander More at University of Massachusetts". University of Massachusetts Boston. 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Biography Alexander More at LIU". Long Island University. April 22, 2022. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d More, Alexander F.M. (2014). At the Origins of Welfare Policy. Harvard University and Proquest. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  7. ^ a b "Media Profile for Alexander More at Harvard University". Harvard University. 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Italian Cultural Institute (July 14, 2022). "Stanze Italiane, Italian Cultural Institute, Storie di New York n. 6". Retrieved May 20, 2023.
  9. ^ a b c d e Anturus Education (July 5, 2021). "Environmental Health With Alex More". Climate Academy. Retrieved May 20, 2023.
  10. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference HarvardHist was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ "Initiative for the Science of the Human Past – Ice Core Project". Harvard University. 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  12. ^ "Professional Profile Alexander More at LIU". Long Island University. April 22, 2022. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  13. ^ a b "About GLEX Summit". GLEX Summit. March 1, 2020. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  14. ^ "Research Team of the Max Planck – Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean". Harvard University and Max Planck Society. May 1, 2016. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  15. ^ a b c More, A. F.; Loveluck, C. P.; Clifford, H.; Handley, M. J.; Korotkikh, E. V.; Kurbatov, A. V.; Mccormick, M.; Mayewski, P. A. (2020). "The Impact of a Six-Year Climate Anomaly on the "Spanish Flu" Pandemic and WWI". GeoHealth. 4 (9): e2020GH000277. doi:10.1029/2020GH000277.
  16. ^ a b Ravilious, Kate (October 23, 2020). "Deadly impact of wet winters on WWI and Spanish flu victims". The Guardian. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  17. ^ Powell, Alvin (October 5, 2020). "Six-year deluge linked to Spanish flu, World War I deaths". Harvard Gazette. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  18. ^ Bressan, David (September 28, 2020). "Climate Study Suggests Weather Anomaly Worsened World War I And The 1918 Flu Pandemic". Forbes. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  19. ^ a b Blakemore, Erin (October 3, 2020). "Catastrophic effect of 1918 flu may have been aided by peculiar influx of cold air into Europe during WWI". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  20. ^ "Top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetrics: AGU journal article: The Impact of a Six-year Climate Anomaly on the 'Spanish Flu' Pandemic and WWI – More". University of Maine. 2020. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  21. ^ "The Impact of a Six‐Year Climate Anomaly on the "Spanish Flu" Pandemic and WWI Overview of attention for article published in GeoHealth, September 2020". Altmetrics. 2020. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  22. ^ a b More, A. F.; Loveluck, C. P.; Clifford, H.; Handley, M. J.; Korotkikh, E. V.; Kurbatov, A. V.; Mccormick, M.; Mayewski, P. A. (2017). "Next-generation ice core technology reveals true minimum natural levels of lead (Pb) in the atmosphere: Insights from the Black Death". GeoHealth. 1 (4): 211–219. doi:10.1002/2017GH000064.
  23. ^ a b More, A. F.; Loveluck, C. P.; Clifford, H.; Handley, M. J.; Korotkikh, E. V.; Kurbatov, A. V.; Mccormick, M.; Mayewski, P. A. (2018). "The Role of Historical Context in Understanding Past Climate, Pollution and Health Data in Trans-disciplinary Studies". GeoHealth. 2 (5): 162–170. doi:10.1029/2017GH000121.
  24. ^ Sommer, Lauren (March 4, 2020). "Why China's Air Has Been Cleaner During The Coronavirus Outbreak". NPR. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  25. ^ Regan, Helen (April 23, 2020). "Air pollution falls by unprecedented levels in major global cities during coronavirus lockdowns". CNN. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  26. ^ MacMahon, Jeff (April 16, 2020). "New Data Show Air Pollution Drop Around 50 Percent In Some Cities During Coronavirus Lockdown". Forbes. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  27. ^ Cite error: The named reference more2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  28. ^ Spaulding, N. E.; Sneed, S. B.; Handley, M. J.; Bohleber, P.; Kurbatov, A. V.; Pearce, N. J.; Erhardt, T.; Mayewski, P. A. (2017). "A New Multielement Method for LA-ICP-MS Data Acquisition from Glacier Ice Cores". Environmental Science and Technology. 51 (22): 13282–13287. doi:10.1021/acs.est.7b03950.
  29. ^ Sneed, S. B.; Mayewski, P. A.; Handley, M. J.; Bohleber, P.; Kurbatov, A. V.; Taylor, K. C.; Erhardt, T.; Wagenbach, D.; Spaulding, N. E. (2015). "New LA-ICP-MS cryocell and calibration technique for sub-millimeter analysis of ice cores". Journal of Glaciology. 61 (226): 233–242. doi:10.3189/2015JoG14J139.
  30. ^ Vergano, Dan (July 8, 2017). "We Have Been Lead Poisoning Ourselves For 2000 Years, Glacier Ice Shows". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  31. ^ Lipuma, Lauren (May 31, 2017). "Human Activity Has Polluted European Air For 2000 Years, Study Finds". American Geophysical Union. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  32. ^ More, A. F. (2022). "Climate change at the turn of the millennium: new evidence from the consilience of natural and written records". Collège de France – CNRS Monographies. 57: 355–374.
  33. ^ a b "How Protecting Our Planet Protects Our Health – TEDx Talk by Alexander More". TEDx Boston. November 30, 2022. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  34. ^ More, Alexander F. (2010). ""Civic Medicine"". In Robert E. Bjork (ed.). Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages. Oxford University Press. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  35. ^ Cite error: The named reference DumbartonOaksFellows was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  36. ^ Kent, Lauren (September 28, 2020). "How environmental conditions like cold and wet weather can affect pandemics, and what that means for COVID-19". CNN. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  37. ^ Bressan, David (July 13, 2017). "An Ice Core Reveals How Profoundly The Black Death Changed Medieval Society". Forbes. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  38. ^ Mayer, Johanna (April 7, 2020). "An Ice Core Reveals How Profoundly The Black Death Changed Medieval Society". Science Friday. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  39. ^ Davis, Nicola (May 30, 2017). "We have been poisoning ourselves: has ice analysis revealed the truth about lead?". The Guardian. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  40. ^ Hoag, Hannah (September 17, 2018). "Europe's Triumphs and Troubles Are Written in Swiss Ice". The New York Times. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  41. ^ Hoag, Hannah (September 25, 2017). "The Black Death helped reveal how long humans have polluted the planet". Popular Science. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  42. ^ "Media Profile for Alexander More at University of Massachusetts". University of Massachusetts Boston. 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  43. ^ "Discovery+ Global Exploration Summit, Season 1, episode 10: Alexander More – How Climate Affects Health". Discovery Channel. December 1, 2022. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  44. ^ "Global Exploration Summit 2019 Alexander More – Climate Change's Impact on the Health of People & Nature". GLEX 2019. December 14, 2019. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  45. ^ "The link between climate and pandemics, now explained by science - Alexander F. More - #IGDLCC E106". George Buhnici Show. November 12, 2020. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  46. ^ "The Science and History of Climate Change and Public Health: A Conversation with Dr. Alex More". Duke University – John Hope Franklin Center. November 19, 2022. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  47. ^ "Daniels Family Sustainable Energy Foundation Board". Daniels Family Sustainable Energy Foundation. June 2, 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  48. ^ "Blue Ocean Watch Board". Blue Ocean Watch. June 19, 2019. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
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