Recognizing the need to reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from air, water, and soil pollution, the Members of the United Nations have called for an International Day of Clean Air on September 7, 2020. The day will bring awareness to the UN’s goal of reducing hazardous chemical contamination leading to human health effects by 2030, as well as decreasing the adverse environmental impact of cities. The Health Effects Institute has for the last four decades worked to improve scientific understanding of the nature of air pollution, its sources, and its impacts on human health.
The HEI Board of Directors has appointed Melissa Perry, chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, to chair the HEI Review Committee.
A new article published June 26 in the journal Science Advances — “Evaluating the impact of long-term exposure to fine particulate matter on mortality among the elderly” by Wu and colleagues — reports on results from an HEI-funded study of the health effects of low levels of air pollution in some 68 million Medicare recipients (led by Francesca Dominici of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health).
HEI has published the Multicenter Ozone Study in oldEr Subjects (MOSES): Part 2. Effects of Personal and Ambient Concentrations of Ozone and Other Pollutants on Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Function. This second part of Research Report 192 was led by Drs. David Rich and Mark Frampton of the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, New York.
HEI has published Research Report 202, Enhancing Models and Measurements of Traffic-Related Air Pollutants for Health Studies Using Dispersion Modeling and Bayesian Data Fusion, which describes a study led by Dr. Stuart Batterman at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and colleagues. The investigators evaluated the ability to predict traffic-related air pollution using a variety of methods and models, including a line source air pollution dispersion model and sophisticated spatiotemporal Bayesian data fusion methods.
Effective April 2020, HEI has launched its Strategic Plan for Understanding the Health Effects of Air Pollution for the coming five years, guiding HEI’s direction based on extensive input from sponsors, the scientific community, environmental organizations, and others. The Plan seeks to produce and advance timely and credible science to inform key decisions with one overarching theme: informing air quality and health decisions for 2020-2025…and beyond.
We hope this message finds you well during this challenging time. Please read this announcement for various ongoing HEI activities during this emergency period and how you can contact us. [Read more]
Pictured: Walter A. Rosenblith New Investigators Marie Pedersen (2017 award recipient, left), of the University of Copenhagen, and Mònica Guxens (2016), Barcelona Institute for Global Health. During the conference, HEI presented the 2018 Rosenblith award and three Travel Awards; see sidebar below.
Pictured: Walter A. Rosenblith New Investigators Marie Pedersen (2017 award recipient, left), of the University of Copenhagen, and Mònica Guxens (2016), Barcelona Institute for Global Health. During the conference, HEI presented the 2018 Rosenblith award and three Travel Awards; see sidebar below.