The intersection of agriculture and medicine is at East Carolina University in Greenville, the address of the North Carolina Agromedicine Institute. That intersection takes many different roads. Dr. Alyssa Spence is the interim director of the Institute.

“The Institute, what we call it for short, is a partnership between East Carolina University, NC State University, and NC A&T State University. We’re all about promoting the health and safety of farmers, foresters, fishermen, their workers and their families, because what we get to do is protect agriculture’s greatest asset, which is the people working in the field.”

Dr. Spence says they focus on three areas, research, intervention, prevention and education and outreach. Research involves what she calls the Institute Members.

“They’ll focus on topics related to production agriculture that have a human aspect to it. For example, right now I’m working on a study that looks at roadway safety, and driving around logging trucks and farm vehicles, and what the perceptions of younger drivers are. So do they know where the blind spots are on a tractor? Do they know when someone puts a left hand signal out that that means the tractor is turning left?”

She says there are larger research studies as well.

“Different things that will include our researchers from across multiple campuses and be part of a larger aspect. So we do everything from developing apps that can help with production to looking at how pesticides may impact the bodies and the people and the environment around us. So there’s lots of different things that touch agriculture and touch humans, and that’s sort of where we intersect with research.”

To find out more, visit ncagromedicine.org