Dr. Akanda’s primary expertise is in the intersections of Water Security, Climate Change and Global Health – and the development of early warning systems to benefit emerging public health issues in the developing world. Ali was the recipient of the NIH Ruth Kirschstein Predoctoral Fellowship and the Dean’s Fellowship during his PhD at Tufts University, Medford, MA. Ali’s doctoral research was the first to identify both dry and wet season hydroclimatic drivers of cholera outbreaks in South Asia and was instrumental in securing an NIH Research Challenge Grant on climate change impacts on cholera. His current research focuses on providing a large scale understanding of hydroclimatic forces affecting water-related disease outbreaks in resource constrained regions, and understanding health impacts of climatic and anthropogenic changes in rapidly growing urban regions of developing nations.

• Ph.D., 2011, Tufts University
• M.Sc., 1998, University of Oklahoma
• B. Tech., 1996, Indian Institute of Technology

Water Security:

• Hydrologic Forecasting for Large Tropical River Basins
• Water and Health Security in Sustainable Development
• Emerging Water and Health Issues in the Developing World

Climate Change:

• Climate-Water-Health Nexus in Emerging Megacities
• Climate Change and Waterborne disease Transmission
• Climate Change Impacts on Water Security in South Asia

Global Health:

• Early Warning Systems to Strengthen the Global Health Community
• Water-related Disasters and Impact on Global Diarrheal Disease Burden
• Hydroclimatic influences on Cholera in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa

Peer Reviewed Publications

1. Akanda, A.S., Jutla, A.S., and Colwell, R.R. 2013. Global Diarrhoea Action Plan needs Integrated Climate-based Surveillance. The Lancet Global Health, 2(2): e69 – e70
2. Akanda A.S., Jutla A.S., Gute D.M., Sack B.R., Alam M., Huq A., Colwell R.R., Islam S. 2013. Population Vulnerability to Biannual Cholera Peaks and Associated Macro-Scale Drivers in the Bengal Delta. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 89(5), pp. 950-959.
3. Jutla A.S., Akanda A.S., Huq A., Colwell R.R., Islam S. 2013. A water marker monitored by satellites for predicting endemic cholera.Remote Sensing Letters, 4(8): 822-831.
4. Jutla, A.S., Whitcombe, E., Hasan, N., Haley, B., Akanda, A.S, Huq, A., Alam, M., Sack, D. and Colwell, R.R., 2013. Environmental Factors Influencing Epidemic Cholera. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 89(3), pp. 597-607.
5. Jutla A.S., Akanda A.S., Islam S. 2013. A framework for predicting endemic cholera using satellite derived environmental determinants.Environ Modeling & Software, 47: 148-158.
6. Akanda, A.S. and Hossain, F. 2012. The Climate-Water-Health Nexus in Emerging Megacities. EOS Transactions, 93(37): 353-354.
7. Akanda, A.S. 2012. South Asia’s Water Conundrum: Hydroclimatic and Geopolitical Asymmetry, and Brewing Conflicts in the Eastern Himalayas. Intl Journal of River Basin Management, 10(4): 307-315.
8. Jutla, A.S., Akanda, A.S. and Islam, S. 2012. Satellite Remote Sensing of Space-Time Plankton Variability in the Bay of Bengal:  Connections to Cholera Outbreaks. Remote Sensing of Environment, 123: 196-206.
9. Akanda, A.S., Jutla, A.S., Gute, D.M., Evans, T. and Islam, S. 2012. Reinforcing Cholera Intervention through Prediction aided Prevention.Bull World Health Organ, 90: 243-244.
10. Alam,  M., Islam, A., Bhuyan, N.A., Rahim, N., Hossain, A., Khan, G.Y., Ahmed, D., Watanabe, H., Izumiya, H., Faruque, A.S.G., Akanda, A.S., Islam, S., Sack, R.B., Huq, A., Colwell, R.R. and Cravioto, A., 2011. Clonal transmission, dual peak, and off-season cholera in Bangladesh. Infection Ecology and Epidemiology, 1: 7273
11. Jutla, A.S., Akanda, A.S, Griffiths, J., Islam, S. and Colwell, R.R. 2011. Warming oceans, phytoplankton, and river discharge: Implications for cholera outbreaks. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Vol. 85, No. 2
12. Akanda, A.S., Jutla, A.S., de Magny, G.C., Alam, M., Siddique, A.K., Sack, R.B., Huq, A., Colwell, R.R. and Islam, S. 2011. Hydroclimatic Influences on Seasonal and Spatial Cholera Transmission Cycles: Implications for Public Health Intervention in the Bengal Delta, Water Resources Research, 47, W00H07
13. Jutla, A.S., Akanda, A.S. and Islam, S. 2010. Tracking Cholera in Coastal Regions using Satellite Observations. Journal of American Water Resources Association, 46(4): 651-662.
14. Akanda, A.S., Jutla, A.S. and Islam, S. 2009. Dual peak cholera transmission in Bengal Delta: A hydroclimatological explanation,Geophysical Research Letters, 36, L19401.
15. Akanda, A.S., Freeman, S. and Placht, M. 2007. The Tigris-Euphrates River Basin: Mediating a Path Towards Regional Water Stability. Al-Nakhlah – The Fletcher School Journal, Spring 2007.

Book Chapters

1. Akanda, A.S., Jutla, A.S. and Islam, S. 2011. Hydroclimatology and Large Scale Population Vulnerability to Cholera Outbreaks in Bengal Delta. Hossain, F. et al., Climate Vulnerability: Understanding and Addressing Threats to Essential Resources – Water. Elsevier (Accepted).
2. Islam, S., Gao, Y. and Akanda, A.S. 2010. Water 2100: A synthesis of natural and societal domains to create actionable knowledge through AquaPedia and water diplomacy. Pp 193-197; in Khan, S. et al., Hydrocomplexity: New Tools for solving wicked water problems, IAHS 338.