Nathan Fethke
University of Iowa, IA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Farming is one of the most hazardous kinds of work. Midwest producers face injuries and illnesses from tractors, roadways, dusty livestock barns and aging on the job.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Engineering
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
agricultural health
agricultural safety
occupational health
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Sep 2027
What they work on
- Reduce back pain linked to whole-body vibration from long-term tractor use by developing technology to measure and address vibration exposure in Midwest farmers.
- Provide resources, developed with partners including the Alzheimer's Association, that help families of aging farmers move them into safer work across multiple stages of dementia.
- Develop and test a safety checklist app that helps farmers identify and reduce high-risk hazards in their physical work environment.
- Reduce injuries involving farm vehicles on public roadways in the nine-state Great Plains region.
- Improve the respiratory health of livestock producers and their animals by developing and evaluating indoor air quality systems for animal production buildings.
More about the research
The Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health works to reduce these harms among row-crop and livestock producers, large and small, in nine states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin. It combines basic and applied research, participatory approaches and theory-driven education.
Why it matters
Agricultural workers in the upper Midwest face injury and illness from tractor vibration, roadway crashes, poor barn air quality, persistent safety hazards and cognitive decline with age. The Center's risk-factor research, new tools and tested interventions could give farmers, their families and rural healthcare providers evidence-based practices and guidelines to prevent back pain, respiratory disease and injuries.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Risto Rautiainen
University of Nebraska Medical Center, NE·Public Health & Epidemiology
Track agricultural injury, illness and stress across the seven-state Central States region through ongoing surveillance of injuries, exposures and their costs.
Lorann Stallones
Colorado State University-Fort Collins, CO·Public Health & Epidemiology
Run an Evaluation & Planning Core that uses the Regional Needs Assessment to steer and evaluate the center's research, outreach and partnerships across Public Health Service Region VIII.
Laura Linnan
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC·Public Health & Epidemiology
Study risks to mental health and well-being among essential workers, including nurses and physicians, firefighters and childcare workers, using a Total Worker Health framework that combines safety with broader health promotion.
The school
University of Iowa: 32 labs on PI Pages, $703M a year on research, 418 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
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