Spring 2019 Newsbrief

"If I pay rent, I’m gonna smoke:" Insights on the social contract of smokefree housing policy in affordable housing settings

A mixed-methods study out of the Mailman School of Public Health analyzed the impacts of smoke-free housing laws that recently went into effect in NYC's public housing. Diana Hernandez et al attempted to understand the effectiveness of smoke-free housing policies through the lens of the “social contract” framework, where residents self regulate and hold one another accountable. Learn more...

Air pollution, urgent asthma medical visits and the modifying effect of neighborhood asthma
prevalence

A new study from researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health finds that air pollution likely isn't the only reason some NYC neighborhoods experience a greater burden of asthma. Follow the link to learn about how social stressors may be a greater risk factor for asthma in parts of NYC. Learn more...

A new approach for inferring traffic-related air pollution: Use of radar-calibrated crowd-sourced traffic data

Driving with a smartphone could help researchers model air pollution in Bronx neighborhoods. A recently published study aimed both to assess the validity of crowd-sourced traffic data maps and to develop models that use this traffic data to determine the contributions traffic has to air pollution levels. Learn more...