Christopher Knight

Graduate Student Research Funding | 2022 - 2023 Academic Year

Social-Ecological Connections Between Seafood Borne Disease and Food Security in the Central Pacific

The United Nations has declared alleviating hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and disease burden as key objectives for the 21st century. Our oceans offer a promising role to accomplish these goals by providing food, nutrition, and livelihoods to billions of people. Yet, ciguatera fish poisoning, the most common seafood borne disease, remains a key impediment as it poses a serious human health threat. Ciguatera causes debilitating neurological, cardiovascular, and gastrointestinal symptoms and is responsible for fishing restrictions across the globe. Small island developing states, such as the Republic of Kiribati, depend on seafood for local livelihood and sustenance and are among the most vulnerable nations to ciguatera outbreaks and associated fishery restrictions. In collaboration with the Kiribati Government and colleagues of the Pacific Planetary Health Initiative, my research investigates the social and ecological drivers of ciguatera and their consequences for human health. In doing so, I strive to provide tangible solutions to prevent ciguatera outbreaks while bolstering access to safe seafood. For the people of Kiribati, maximizing safe seafood harvests alleviates their burden of disease and decreases their reliance on imported Western diets associated with obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. It also protects fishing livelihoods that account for 9-16% of the nation’s GDP through international seafood exports.

Christopher Knight, Department of Biology

Christopher Knight is a Biology PhD Candidate and a Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Research Fellow, who is interested in how the health of ocean ecosystems and the human populations that rely on them are intertwined. Knight's research employs interdisciplinary methods from the fields of marine science, nutrition science, and public health to tackle pressing issues and discover solutions that improve the lives of current and future generations. He was previously an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and a US Fulbright Fellow to Chile. Prior to Stanford, Knight earned an MS in Biology from San Diego State University, and a BA in Evolution, Ecology, and Biodiversity, as well as Spanish from the University of California, Davis.

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