Research

Objectives

Climate change affects health through complex mechanisms that include shifts in the global atmosphere, in regional ecology, in social structures, and in human exposures and behaviors. Our research aims to elucidate these mechanisms, to identify the precise role that climate plays in long-term health trends, and to project future impacts by modeling plausible climate scenarios.

We also study the local health benefits that can be achieved when actions are taken to reduce greenhouse pollutants, such as CO2, methane, and black carbon. Many policies that reduce emissions of such pollutants also deliver immediate and localized environmental co-benefits, such as lower rates of asthma. The Program is developing and applying new methods to assess health co-benefits of emerging climate mitigation policies at local, regional, and global scales.

Projects

Climate and Health Evaluation for Adoptive Resilience (CLEAR)

Investigators: Darby Jack and Robbie Parks
Funded by: Wellcome Trust

Investigating the pathways linking heat exposure to mental health outcomes: mechanisms and interventions in a Ghanaian cohort (HEAT-MIND)

Investigator: Robbie Parks
Funded by: Wellcome Trust

Geohealth Hub for Research and Training in Eastern Africa - U.S.

Investigator: Kiros Berhane (PI), Darby Jack (Co-PI)
Funded by: Fogarty International Center

CHART: Charting solutions for health impacts of extreme weather

Investigator: Kiros Berhane (Co-PI)
Funded by: NIA

Establishing a unified evaluation and implementation framework to inform heat-health warning systems

Investigator: Xiao Wu (PI)

Funded by: NIEHS

Novel Assessments of the Health Impacts of Tropical Cyclones

Investigator: Robbie Parks (PI)
Funded by: NIEHS

Other Environmental Health-Related Projects

Child Lung Development Following a Cookstove Intervention: Evidence from GRAPHS

Investigator: Darby Jack (PI)
Funded by: NIEHS

Early Life Household Air Pollution, Metal Composition and Cardiovascular Health: Evidence from GRAPHS

Investigator: Darby Jack (Co-PI)
Funded by: NIEHS

Combating Household Air Pollution With Clean Energy

Investigator: Darby Jack (PI)
Funded by: Columbia World Projects

Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease in American Indian Communities

Investigator: Markus Hilpert (PI), Ana Navas-Acien (Co-PI)
Funded by: NIEHS

Prenatal Traffic-Related Air Pollutants, Placental Epitranscriptomics, and Child Cognition

Investigator: Julie Herbstman (PI)
Funded by: NIEHS

Mold Policy Intervention in New York City Public Housing and Asthma Morbidity

Investigator: Matthew Perzanowski (PI)
Funded by: NIEHS

Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan

Investigator: Matthew Perzanowski (PI)
Funded by: NIEHS

Identifying Newborns at Risk of Adverse Neurodevelopmental Outcomes and Obesity from Air Pollution

Investigator: Frederica Perera (Co-PI)
Funded by: NIH

To Maintain and Enrich Resource Infrastructure for Existing Environmental Epidemiology Cohorts

Investigator: Frederica Perera (Co-PI)
Funded by: NIEHS

Enhancing the Impact of the Three CCCEH Birth Cohorts Within the ECHO Consortium in Year 7