About Us

Jesse E. Bell, PhD, is the Claire M. Hubbard Professor of Water, Climate, and Health in the UNMC Department of Environmental, Agricultural, and Occupational Health. In addition to serving as director of the Water, Climate and Health Program, Dr. Bell is the director of Water, Climate and Health Program at the University of Nebraska’s Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute.

His expertise and research are focused on understanding the impacts of changes in the environment and climate on natural and human processes. Before joining UNMC, Dr. Bell developed and served as the first holder of an inter-agency position between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

He was a lead author for the U.S. Global Change Research Program report “The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment” that was released by the White House in 2016. He also served on the White House Pandemic Prediction and Forecasting Working Group and assisted with a project focused on forecasting dengue fever outbreaks.

Dr. Bell also serves as an editor for the annual Lancet Countdown: Tracking Progress on Health and Climate Change and served as a contributing author on the United Nations Water Scarcity in Agriculture Working Group report titled "Thinking ahead: Drought resilience and COVID-19." He is also a faculty fellow for the National Strategic Research Institute and adjunct faculty for the Department of Environmental Health at Emory University. Dr. Bell received his PhD from the University of Oklahoma.