Health Effects Institute 2018 Annual Conference

Chairs: Barbara Hoffmann, University of Düsseldorf, Germany; and Ivan Rusyn, Texas A&M University, both of the HEI Research Committee

Diabetes and obesity, as well as air pollution, are known risk factors in the development of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Air pollution is associated with development of diabetes in adults, and there is some evidence that early-life exposure in children may be associated with diabetes later in life. This session will discuss the evidence, who is most susceptible, and what mechanisms are behind these observations.

Chairs: Amy Herring, Duke University and HEI Research Committee; and Kiros Berhane, University of Southern California and HEI Review Committee

Awareness has grown during the last decade that many scientific studies have not been reproduced and the problem seems to be particularly widespread in certain fields. Environmental standards are health based and there have been long-standing debates about replicability and reproducibility of the studies underpinning regulations (including data access, quality, and analyses), though arguably the recent debate has given this issue greater visibility. Reproducibility has been the focus of several recent debates in scientific journals and also is reflected in congressional efforts at transparency. This session will describe the background on this issue, different perspectives on it, and approaches to addressing it.

Research Committee Chair David Eaton, University of Washington–Seattle, and Review Committee Chair James Merchant, University of Iowa, will introduce the two committees and preside over a presentation of HEI’s research program, which includes traffic-related air pollution, low levels of exposure, accountability, and mechanisms of effect, as well as the expanding Global Health Program. Energy Research Committee Chair George Hornberger, Vanderbilt University, will join them to present HEI’s Energy Research Program, focused on the potential for human exposure and health effects from the development of oil and natural gas from unconventional resources.