A local community member started a fundraiser last week to try and help keep the Island’s only tick-focused epidemiologist working, after federal funds were rescinded earlier this year.
Ann Gibbons Scherlis, a science writer, launched a GoFundMe earlier this week as Lea Hamner, a contract epidemiologist who works through the Martha’s Vineyard Tick Program to aid the Island on its severe tick problem, finds herself at the end of her billable hours of work.
“Community support is needed now to keep this essential work alive and to prevent gaps in her data collection,” the GoFundMe said.
It was a no-brainer, Gibbons Scherlis said. Through her work, she writes about the evolution of viruses from time to time, and understands the importance of data collection — on how disease spreads, who is affected, and how symptoms manifest — which Hamner helps do for the Island. Gibbons Scherlis said cuts to public health research funds are shortsighted.
The Island tick program is a small team, but the work is crucial, as the number of tick bites and tick-borne illness cases, especially of alpha-gal syndrome and Lyme disease, continue to rise on the Island.
Hamner is incredibly grateful to Gibbons Scherlis. “[Ann] expressed not only profound appreciation for my contributions to this Island, but to the scientific community at large working to address ticks across the U.S.,” Hamner said. “Her determination to see more investment in tick-borne disease research, not less, is deeply heartening.”
The fundraiser has raised more than $13,000 as of Tuesday morning; donations go to the Island Tick-Borne Illness Prevention Fund through the Martha’s Vineyard Community Foundation for Hamner’s research. Hamner hopes that the GoFundMe demonstrates that investment in tick research is critical. “Even a strong showing of small donations can help us leverage support for larger investments going forward,” Hamner said. “The M.V. Tick Program has been sustained by community donations between grants. We hope that the community will do so again.”
And Hamner doesn’t want to stop the work. “I’m in it for the long haul. My family is here, my life is here, my heart is here,” Hamner said. “And to have any sort of future on this Island, we have to deal with the threat of ticks.”
Thank you for this great article. Lea is too kind to me. It’s pretty obvious to many of us that this research needs to continue — it has to be a priority so that we can an accurate picture of the extent of different tickborne diseases on this island, and what the risk factors are, as well as the toll they take on local residents and visitors—and we need that data to inform the best ways to prevent and treat these diseases. We need to work together to support Lea everyone who works to combat this plague of ticks.
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