Tick Talk: Preventing Tick Bites and Tick-borne Diseases

As we head outdoors to hike in the woods and fields or to work and play in our yards, we need to be aware of the presence of ticks. Ticks like damp, shady, leafy areas, where they can wait for a person or an animal to come into direct contact with them. That contact can lead to a tick bite and tick bites can lead to a number of serious diseases, including Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Powassan, and Lyme. Infectious disease specialist, Dr. Penelope Dennehy will share what symptoms should prompt a visit to your health care professional and what you can do to protect yourself while enjoying the outdoors.

Penelope Dennehy, M.D. is a Professor of Pediatrics at Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. She provides consultations for children with a variety of infections and runs a clinic which cares for children with Lyme Disease and other tick-borne infections.

Dr. Dennehy received her medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine and completed her pediatric residency at Rhode Island Hospital. She then pursued a combined pediatric-medical infectious diseases fellowship at Children’s Hospital Medical Center-Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. She joined the faculty at Brown and Rhode Island Hospital in 1982. Dr. Dennehy is board certified in pediatrics and pediatric infectious diseases.  She is the past president of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, served as secretary for the Infectious Disease Society of America, and is the current secretary of the World Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. Dr. Dennehy has served on many policy making groups including the Rhode Island Department of Health Advisory Committee on Vaccines and the Committee on Infectious Diseases of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Free and open to all.