Disease-Poverty Traps

In this episode, biologist Professor Jason Rohr takes us to West Africa to confront one of humankind’s most insidious feedback loops: the “disease-poverty trap.” In these environments, systemic poverty actively fuels the spread of disease, while chronic illness relentlessly deepens economic hardship. His groundbreaking research was originally shared with Notre Dame’s Poverty Research Fellows–a passionate cohort of undergraduates dedicated to wielding rigorous, evidence-based research to uncover lasting pathways out of poverty. Professor Rohr’s research perfectly illustrates how looking at poverty from every angle–including the biological–is vital to breaking the complex webs of inequality

Recordings coming soon!

Poverty Research From Every Angle highlights Notre Dame faculty from across the University leading the charge. This approach is critical because poverty is never a single problem with a single solution–it is a complex web of interconnected challenges spanning health, education, the environment, and our legal systems. No single discipline holds the entire picture, but each illuminates something the others cannot see alone. Over the course of this series, you will see how Notre Dame’s brightest minds are bridging these fields, sharing impactful research, and collaborating to build real, lasting paths out of poverty.

To learn more about the work of Notre Dame’s Poverty Initiative, please visit their website. Register for the Poverty Initiative’s email newsletter here.

Want more Poverty Research From Every Angle? Click here to see the full series.