Sulagna Chakraborty
Sulagna Chakraborty is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Veterinary Clinical Medicine at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
We asked Sulagna about her current work and here are snippets of what she shared:
What is the focus of your current work and/or research? At heart I am a disease ecologist and a One Health Practitioner. My research involves understanding behavioral, environmental, social, and climatic factors that drive vector-borne and zoonotic diseases. I am also interested in developing interventions, training, and educational opportunities for a variety of groups who might be at-risk of contracting vector-borne and zoonotic diseases. Additionally, as part of my postdoctoral work, I have been assisting in the development of a One Health consortium in Illinois for which we organized a state-wide One Health workshop in December 2024 with the goal of conducting a needs assessment of priority areas in Illinois that need to be addressed. We have also been busy working on introducing a bill in Illinois Senate and Illinois House called the One Health Commission Act with the goal of promoting the health and wellbeing of all Illinoisians, animals, and the environment.
How has your GRID minor influenced your career? The GRID minor opened a new perspective for me which has been instrumental in my research and service efforts. I got more interested in pursuing behavioral and socio-demographic aspects of pathogen transmission and diseases after taking the core courses - and listening and participating in the interactions that took place in the courses. It was really nice to see people from so many different backgrounds in the classes and hear them speak about issues that are important to them.
What advice would you offer to current GRID students?: Take advantage of the professors and the students in the courses because it is rare to be exposed to students and faculty from varied backgrounds within your own discipline. The GRID minor is also helpful for those students who are interested in pursuing interdisciplinary and collaborative work in their careers. I wish them all the best!
How can we follow your work on social media? (Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, personal website, etc.): Here are my social handles:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sulagna-chakraborty-phd-a2329b78/
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sulagna-Chakraborty
Twitter: https://x.com/sulagna_diseco
I have my own blog site where I publish original poetry from time to time mostly in English and Hindi and maybe someday in other languages: https://sulagnalucidmusings.wordpress.com/