The CHEN Lab
The Climate, Health, and Environment Nexus (CHEN) Lab aims to build a vibrant research group of doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers, and visiting scholars who will apply multidisciplinary approaches – including climate and air pollution sciences, exposure assessment, mathematical and statistical modeling and environmental epidemiology – to investigate the intersection of climate change, air pollution, and human health. Our research focuses on
- Climate Epidemiology: health effects of ambient temperature and extreme weather events, and their interactions with demographic factors and social determinants;
- Air Pollution and Health: health effects of short-term and long-term exposure to air pollutants and their interactions with extreme temperatures;
- Health Co-benefits of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation: future climate change health impacts as determined by modeling of alternative mitigation and adaptation scenarios; effects of mitigation and adaptation policies on reducing disparities in environmental exposures and their adverse health effects; and adaptation strategies, especially to extreme heat.
- Air Pollution, Meteorology, and COVID-19: effects of air pollution reductions on mortality during the COVID-19 lockdown; and role of meteorological factors in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2.
We aim to produce policy-relevant knowledge that can be used to advance climate change mitigation and adaptation in a manner that promotes health and protects vulnerable populations.