Head of the CLIMA (Climate & Health RG, ISGlobal, ORCID ID: 0000-0003-4843-6180) and The Planet Hub. Founding director of the IC3 climate institute and former head of the LRC-PCB. UVIC Prof. MSc in engineering, completed his PhD in 1997 (UB) on the simulation of extreme ecosystems under climate forcing. Visiting fellow at Princeton and UCSD, and COLA-IGES associated scientist. Background in numerical ecology, climate dynamics and climate impact modelling. Taught ecology, advanced statistics, climate dynamics and sustainability and led/participated in >60 research projects. Over 25 postdoctoral fellows. Co-chair of CLIVAR-Spain (-2007), SSC of the MEDCLIVAR-ESF, CA and ER of the AR4-WGII and ER of AR6 (IPCC2007, 2021). SCM of the DIG of the World Climate Research Program and of the ISIMIP Health Impact Models for IPCC AR6. EBM: PLoS NTD, PLoS Clim and of the OPCC-Pyrenees. TT of the WMO climate & COVID-19. EG Health & Climate for UfM and EU Parliament.
Research interests
The interplay between climate and health, where I attempt to uncover how climate impacts a wide range of diseases. I also work on climate dynamics, particularly the origin and predictability of El Niño-Southern Oscillation and towards improving translational climate services for health, in particular for climate extremes. I am interested in the development of new statistical techniques and on improving computational models with different levels of complexity to disentangle the interplay between intrinsic (e.g. immunity, demography, malnutrition) and extrinsic factors (e.g. climate, environment). For instance, the modeling of climate-driven infectious diseases (from waterborne, to foodborne, vectorborne and airborne diseases). An emerging area of my research entails with the understanding of the interaction between climate, air pollution and the aerial microbiome (bacteria, fungi and viruses) for their effects on human health, with developments on metagenomics and laser fluorimetry.
Selected publications
- Saibu S, Perera I, Suzuki S & Rodó X, Fujiyoshi S & Maruyama F 2024, 'Resistomes in freshwater bioaerosols and their impact on drinking and recreational water safety: A perspective'. Env. Intl. 183-108377
- Reska T, Pozdniakova S, Borràs S, Perlas A, Sauerborn E, Cañas L, Schloter M, Rodó X, Wang YY, Winkler B, Schnitzler JP & Urban L 2024, 'Air monitoring by nanopore sequencing', Isme communications, 4 - 1 - ycae099.
- Rodó X, Bouma MJ, Rodríguez-Arias MA, Roy M, De Yebra P, Petrova D, García-Díez M & Pascual M 2024, 'Strain variation and anomalous climate synergistically influence cholera pandemics', Plos neglected tropical diseases, 18 - 8 -e0012275.
- Rodó X et al 2024, 'Microbial richness and air chemistry in aerosols above the PBL confirm 2000km long-distance transport of potential human pathogens', Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 121-38-e2404191121.
- López L & Rodó X 2024, 'Stochastic network to model the global spreading of respiratory diseases: From SARS-CoV-2 to pathogen X pandemic', Ecol. Inf., 83-102827
- Quijal M & Rodó X et al 2024, ‘Forecast skill assessment of an operational continental heat-cold-health forecasting system: New avenues for health early warning systems’, Science Adv., 10, 46-eado5286.
- Petrova D & Rodó X et al 2024, 'The 2023/24 El Niño and the Feasibility of Long-Lead ENSO Forecasting', Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., E1915-E1928
- Petrova P & Rodó X et al I 2024, ‘Future precipitation changes in California: comparison of CMIP5 and CMIP6 intermodel spread and its drivers’, Int. J. Climatol., 44 - 7 - 2207 - 2229.
Selected research activities
Keynote & Invited speaker at 28 Intl. conferences. UNFCCC COP29 Observer. Top Scholar by ScholarGPS.
Reviewer for Nature Comms., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Nature Med., The Lancet Public Health and 11 other journals.
Over 200 press clips for our PNAS article (i.e. BBC News, Washington Post, New York Times, the Guardian, Le Figaro...)