Dr. Andria Jones
Epidemiology and public health
Division of Community Health and Humanities
Dr. Andria Jones
Dr. Andria Jones' research interests are in the area of infectious diseases transmitted by food, water and animals. With a background as a veterinarian she adds a new perspective to the expertise at Memorial University in the study of zoonotic diseases, or diseases and infections which are transmitted between animals and humans.
After graduating from the Ontario Veterinary College in 2000 and practising small animal medicine for about 18 months, Dr. Jones began graduate studies at the University of Guelph. Her doctoral thesis was on the use and perception of drinking water in an Ontario community.
Her research showed that people's perceptions about their water differed by water source. People on private wells and water cisterns generally rated their water quality as high and their concerns tended to be about agricultural contamination or the effect of urban sprawl on their aquifers. In contrast, people using water from a municipal resource reported a wider range of concerns. Based on the results of Dr. Jones' work, the public health department in Hamilton, Ont., initiated a public education program for residents on private water supplies and increased the convenience of the testing process. Submissions of water samples for testing increased by 50 per cent compared to the previous year.
In her new position at Memorial, Dr. Jones will be looking at doing a similar study on perceptions of drinking water, as well as seeing in what ways her expertise in infectious diseases particularly foodborne, waterborne and zoonotic infections can be applied to provincial research needs.