You are here

Health Effects Institute Annual Conference 2022

June 26, 2022 to June 28, 2022

The HEI Annual Conference 2022 was held June 26-28 at the Westin Washington, DC City Center Hotel. We had an exciting program with innovative and wide-ranging themes such as risks to population health, issues of environmental justice, air pollution and climate change, and cutting-edge research methods. Thank you to all who joined, in person or virtually!

Speaker slides, as well as live stream videos from select poster presentations, are now available.

Recordings of the sessions are available below.

 

HEI was delighted to welcome U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe as the keynote speaker for the conference. 

 

McCabe shared the challenges and opportunities for the EPA and how scientific research has helped inform current and future regulatory decisions.

Watch Keynote

 

 

Sessions: 

Registration Desk Opens

Jun. 26, 2022 - 10:00am

Welcome and Official Opening

Jun. 26, 2022 - 1:00pm
Speaker: Dan Greenbaum, Health Effects Institute

Setting Ambient Air Quality Standards - What's Science Got To Do With It?

Jun. 26, 2022 - 1:10pm

Watch Session

Chairs: Barbara Hoffmann, University of Düsseldorf, Germany, Kiros T. Berhane, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, USA

The body of evidence on air pollution and health has led to increasingly large risk estimates associated with air pollution in the Global Burden of Disease, and more stringent Air Quality Guidelines from the World Health Organization in 2021. While evidence is increasing, actual adoption of enforceable air quality standards varies for countries and regions around the world, and the resulting standards span a wide range. This session will discuss and contrast air quality standard-setting processes in the United States and Europe, the driving forces in each case, and plans for potential changes to future standards in the context of the new WHO guidelines.

 

1:10 PM Welcome and Introduction

1:15 PM Setting ambient air quality standards: The approach in Europe and the U.S.

1:25 PM Scientific evidence and decision-making process in the development of the new WHO Air Quality Guidelines

1:45 PM U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) Program

2:05 PM Current efforts underway to revise ambient air quality standards: EU Ambient Air Quality Directives guided by the Zero Pollution Action Plan & European Green Deal

2:25 PM Ensuring that standards protect marginalized populations from disproportionate air pollution exposures

2:40 PM Discussion

Announcing the winners of the Jane Warren Award

Jun. 26, 2022 - 3:10pm

Poster Session 1 and Jane Warren Poster Discussion

Jun. 26, 2022 - 4:00pm

Recordings of the Jane Warren Award winners' presentations are available here:

Joyce J.Y. Lin - Characterizing Spatiotemporal Variability in Airborne Heavy Metal Concentration: Changes after 18 Years in Baltimore, MD

Garima Raheja - PM2.5 Sensor Intercomparisons and Regional Trend Assessments from Low-Cost Sensor Networks in Accra, Ghana and Lomé, Togo

Joshua Rivera - Distributed In-situ Measurements of PM2.5 in the Buzzard Point, Washington, D.C. Neighborhood

Ajit Singh - Health and Economic Benefits Attributed to Changes in Air Quality and Traffic Emissions Induced by COVID-19 Emergency measures in Oxford City, UK

Yifan Wang - Disparities in Ambient Nitrogen Dioxide Pollution in the United States

Wenlu Ye - Effects of a liquefied petroleum gas stove intervention on gestational blood pressure: intention-to-treat and exposure-response findings from the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network (HAPIN) trial

 
 

Opening Reception and Dinner

Jun. 26, 2022 - 6:00pm

HEI Progress and Future Directions

Jun. 27, 2022 - 8:15am

Watch Session

Watch Keynote

Chairs: David Savitz, Brown University and Chair of HEI Research Committee, and Melissa Perry, George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health and Chair of the HEI Review Committee

We will present an overview of current projects at HEI, including HEI’s new literature review on traffic-related air pollution, continuing collaborative research on health effects at low exposure concentrations, new research underway for our core air pollution and energy programs, and updates on our global health program.

 

8:15 AM Introduction of the Committees

  • David A. Savitz
    ,

    Brown University, HEI Research Committee Chair

  • Melissa J. Perry
    , George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health and Chair of HEI Review Committee

8:25 AM Systematic review of selected health effects of long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution

8:45 AM Investigating determinants of the magnitude and shape of the associations between long-term PM2.5 exposure and mortality: Harmonized analyses in three large studies in Canada, United States and Europe

9:10 AM Updates on HEI’s Core, Energy, and Global Health programs

9:40 AM Introduction to Keynote Presentation

  • Robert O'Keefe
    ,

    Health Effects Institute

9:45 AM Keynote Presentation

  • Janet McCabe
    , Deputy Administrator, United States Environmental Protection Agency

Getting from A to B: Emerging Trends in Mobility

Jun. 27, 2022 - 10:30am

Watch Session

Chairs: Gregory Wellenius, Boston University School of Public Health, and Sara D. Adar, University of Michigan School of Public Health

Widespread changes to local and regional patterns in human mobility and goods movement have occurred in recent years. This session will describe changing trends in mobility, including public transportation and active mobility, electrification of motor vehicles, and goods movement. It will broadly discuss new insights and trends, including among others how the COVID pandemic has accelerated or modified some of those trends. The session will also consider long-term effects on air quality and health, as well as associated inequities among specific subpopulations in the United States.

 

10:30 AM Introduction - A turn in the road? Mobility trends and air quality

10:35 AM How we move: Changing commuting modes and household travel patterns

10:58 AM Are warehouses closing in? New spatial patterns in ecommerce and equity implications

11:21 AM Exploring the role of electric vehicles in future mobility

11:44 AM Planning for a new mobility future

12:07 PM Panel Discussion

Poster Session 2

Jun. 27, 2022 - 1:30pm

Recording of the Rosenblith Award winner presentation is available here:

Lucas Henneman - Air pollution source impacts at fine scales for long-term regulatory accountability and environmental justice

Air Pollution and the Immune System

Jun. 27, 2022 - 3:30pm

Watch Session

Chairs: Ivan Rusyn, Texas A&M University, and Evangelia Samoli, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Disruption of the immune system is associated with a range of adverse health outcomes. These may include hypersensitivity, cancer, auto-immune disorders, and increased infection vulnerability and severity. Toxicological and clinical studies suggest air pollution exposure can adversely affect numerous innate and adaptive immune system pathways. Therefore, understanding how air pollution affects immune function is critical to not only understanding the biological mechanism underlying many diseases, but also potential prevention and treatment strategies. This session will highlight research examining immune system responses to ambient and indoor air pollution levels including high exposures from specific sources, such as wildfire smoke or household characteristics and activities.

 

3:30 PM Welcome and Introduction

3:35 PM Acute air pollution and respiratory infection, including COVID-19

3:55 PM Air pollution exposure and altered immune response to respiratory viral infection

4:15 PM Long-term air pollution exposure and immune dysfunction in children

  • Kari Nadeau
    ,

    Stanford University

4:35 PM Moderated discussion

Improving Global Public Health through Actions on Energy, Air Quality, and Climate

Jun. 28, 2022 - 8:30am

Watch Session

Chair: Michal Krzyzanowski, Imperial College London, UK, and Kalpana Balakrishnan, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, India

Policies addressing energy access and use and improvement of air quality bring both climate and public health benefits. Globally, the use of solid fuels, such as biomass and coal, in the residential sector accounts for nearly 20% of emissions of fine particles and more than 700,000 deaths, with the largest burden in low- and middle-income countries. In addition, the use of wood or pellets, promoted as a renewable and affordable energy source, is becoming an important source of pollution in many cities, especially in high-income countries. This session will bring together a variety of global perspectives on the relationships between household energy, air quality, climate, and health, and will explore pathways used by various regions to address the issues surrounding household energy use.

 

8:30 AM Welcome and Introduction

8:40 AM Energy access: Accelerating the adoption of clean cooking, heating and lighting to protect public health

9:05 AM Implications of biomass energy use and potential alternatives on climate, air quality, and health

9:30 AM Panel Discussion

  • Emmanuel Appoh
    ,

    Ghana Environmental Protection Agency

  • Sumi Mehta
    ,

    Vital Strategies, USA

  • Shonali Pachauri
    ,

    International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austria   

  • Ana Stojilovska
    ,

    Centre for Social Sciences, Hungary

  • Paul Wilkinson
    ,

    London School of Tropical Hygiene and Medicine, UK

The “Climate Penalty”: How Heat and Carbon Dioxide Influence Ozone Exposures and Health, Part 1*

Jun. 28, 2022 - 11:15am

Watch Part 1

Watch Part 2

Chairs: Jennifer Peel, Colorado State University, and Jeff Brook, University of Toronto

Climate change produces changes in local temperatures and patterns of cloud cover, biogenic emissions, and large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns.  All of these can increase ground-level ozone concentrations in large areas of the United States and elsewhere. This session examines the effects of climate-related changes in ground-level ozone, exposure patterns and their primary drivers, and the resulting risks to human health associated with both acute and long-term exposures.  This session also discusses challenges that regulators and policymakers encounter when setting national ozone standards.

 

11:15 AM Welcome and Introduction

  • Jennifer L. Peel
    , Colorado State University and HEI Review Committee

11:20 AM Driving factors and leverage points influencing ozone concentrations

11:47 AM Challenges for regulators and policymakers

12:15 PM Lunch Break

The “Climate Penalty”: How Heat and Carbon Dioxide Influence Ozone Exposures and Health, Part 2

Jun. 28, 2022 - 1:15pm

1:15 PM Exposure assessment

1:42 PM Health effects of increasing ozone exposure

2:10 PM Concluding Remarks

  • Jeffrey R. Brook
    ,

    University of Toronto and HEI Research Committee

Conference Adjourns

Jun. 28, 2022 - 2:30pm
Location
The Westin Washington, D.C. City Center
1400 M St NW
Washington, DC 20005
United States
Accommodations

The Westin Washington, D.C. City Center

  

HEI Code of Conduct

HEI fully expects that all participants who attend any in-person or online meeting or event behave with the utmost respect for peers, colleagues, staff, volunteers, researchers, sponsors, and everyone across the HEI community. It is our sincere desire that every event, meeting, and gathering we host or participate in fosters and encourages an inclusive, positive, and welcoming environment for all. Read HEI’s full Code of Conduct Statement.