Environmental Health

Communities across the western United States experience hazardous smoke exposures from multiple fire sources. As wildfires become more frequent and severe, smoke exposures stemming from these fires are also worsening. Prescribed burning is a promising forest management strategy that can mitigate future wildfire risk, but also contributes to biomass burning emissions and human exposure impacts.

Laws permitting growth and possession of cannabis for medicinal and recreational use are currently changing rapidly in the United States (U.S.) and internationally. (Carliner et al., 2017; Caulkins et al., 2018; Mahamad and Hammond, 2019) While cultivation and use of cannabis is still considered illegal by the U.S. federal government, multiple U.S.

Ambient air pollution such as fine particulate matter (PM2.5) has been demonstrated to have respiratory and cardiovascular effects and is hypothesized to be associated with the Alzheimer’s disease processes. Community-engaged research provides an opportunity for the public to learn about their neighborhood level exposures to ambient air pollution, health effects, and mitigation strategies.

Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent environmental contaminants that pose a significant public health risk including reproductive toxicity partly because they are endocrine disruptors. The lipophilic nature of PCBs increases the risk of developmental exposure due to placenta and breast milk transfer.

Anthropogenic impacts on marine ecosystems have developed into a dominating and formative force within coastal regions. One of the strongest influences within these coastal anthropogenic zones is the deposition and life cycle of marine plastic waste.

The use of chemical agents to eradicate pests and weeds is prevalent across both developing and developed countries, and it plays a crucial role in the agricultural sector by enhancing crop yields and minimizing losses.

King County, Washington currently ranks 3rd in the nation for the number of people experiencing homelessness. Amid an affordability housing crisis, the number of people experiencing homelessness continues to grow in Seattle. People in historically redlined communities of Seattle disproportionately experience homelessness because of gentrification.

Background: Asthma is a leading cause of childhood morbidity in the U.S. and a significant public health concern. The prenatal period is a critical window during which environmental influences, including maternal occupational exposures, can shape child respiratory health.

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution is associated with excess morbidity and mortality and estimated to be the most important environmental risk factor for mortality globally. Ultrafine particles (UFPs) and PM2.5 from wildfire smoke (WFS), are both thought to be more toxic than ambient PM2.5.

Background The two main seasons with highest concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the state of Washington (WA) are wintertime and periods of wildfire smoke.

Background: Evidence links air pollution to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The health effect of ultrafine particulate matter (UFP) air pollution is not well understood, and no community-based prospective cohort studies in older adults have evaluated the association between UFP and markers of AD neuropathology at autopsy.

U.S. meat producers continue to face challenges with how to improve production sustainability, while balancing environmental and animal wellbeing decisions. The industry is driven by changing consumer preferences and market trends that require the need for continued transformations towards a sustainable production practice.

The school environment is one of the primary locations where children spend time and is known to present numerous health hazards. Poor air quality is a known public health risk, especially for children, impacting health, attendance, and learning outcomes, but schools face many challenges in improving the school environment.

Community Health Workers (CHWs) play an important role in reducing health disparities, especially in low resourced communities.

I led a project with the Woodland Park Zoo’s Senior Conservation Scientist, Dr. Lisa Dabek, and Director of the UW Center for One Health Research, Dr. Peter Rabinowitz.

My MPH practicum experience was with InterIm Community Development Association’s Danny Woo Community Garden to launch the Restaurant 2 Garden project.

Exposure to per-and poly-fluorinated substances is increasingly in the public eye. The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine released a report advising increase surveillance screening for those exposed to high levels.

Under the guidance of the NW Pediatric Environmental Health Speciality Unit (PEHSU), we developed two educational resources regarding Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) and potential exposures and health impacts on children.

We use AERMOD modeling to estimate the carbon monoxide air pollution impact by idling cars at Whitman Elementary School in the City of Tacoma.

The IPC Plan is used to implement preventative measures to prioritize the health and well-being of all employees and animals on farms.

Human and wildlife communities depend on healthy marine environments to provide myriad resources and support. Harmful algal blooms (HABs), phenomena in which algae rapidly produce large amounts of biomass and often toxins, are becoming more frequent, widespread, and severe.

Wastewater surveillance has long been used to aid the global public health effort to eradicate poliovirus. More recently, wastewater surveillance has been implemented to help understand the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Shortly after it was discovered to be shed in stools, the virus was detected in sewage around the world.

Commensal rodents are a widespread problem in densely populated cities, where they live in close proximity to humans. These rodents can transmit numerous diseases to humans and domestic animals and are a threat to public health.

Organophosphate (OP) pesticides are extensively used to support agricultural practices in Washington State. OP exposure is associated with both asthmatic populations and agricultural communities. The objective of this thesis is to investigate the correlation between OP pesticide exposure in agricultural community, with respiratory health outcomes, associated with asthma.

Background: The United States is experiencing increasing temperatures and heatwaves due to anthropogenic climate change. Days of extreme heat lead to higher rates of morbidity and mortality and place greater demand on healthcare systems.

Background: Terpenes are a broad class of volatile and semi volatile organic compounds with over 40,000 different known structures, that are emitted by a wide variety of flora. Terpene concentrations vary in different forest settings.

Background: JP-8, Jet A-1, and Jet A are kerosene-based aviation fuels. Jet fuel combustion produces complex pollutant mixtures including VOCs, CO2, CO, NOx, SOx, PAHs and PM. Particles are characterized by size, with ultrafine particles (UFPs -- those particles < 100 nm in diameter) typically quantified by particle number concentration.

The 2018 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) named air pollution as the number one environmental threat to public health. Traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) is a sizable contributor to global air pollution, and diesel exhaust (DE) is a major source of TRAP (Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, 2018).

Intro: Understanding how indoor environments can not only affect but also shape human health is a new area of emerging research. Considering that we spend a large portion of our daily lives indoors, dust is a major complex environmental mixture we are exposed to every day.

Wastewater surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 provides an approach for assessing theinfection burden across a sewer service area. For these data to be useful for public health, measurement variability in relation to normalization methods need to be established.