Research

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.

More information can be found on the CHEN Lab website.

Each year the Yale Center on Climate Change and Health seeks proposals for innovative pilot research projects focused on climate change and health. Potential research areas include, but are not limited to, health effects of heat waves; occupational heat stress; cardiovascular and respiratory health effects of climate change; interactions between climate change and air pollution; relationships between climate change and infectious or other environmentally-transmitted diseases; climate change and food insecurity; mental health effects of natural disasters; climate refugee health; social justice in relation to climate change and health; interplay between climate change and human exposure to chemical contaminants; health co-benefits of climate change mitigation; and adaptation strategies to minimize adverse health effects of climate change. All full-time Yale faculty are eligible to apply. To foster interdisciplinary research, we require that each application be submitted by two co-Principal Investigators from different departments or schools, and especially encourage collaborations between Yale School of Public Health faculty and faculty from other parts of the University. Priority for pilot project funding is based on the scientific merit of the research plan; the likelihood that the project will lead to an externally-funded study; the likelihood that the project will be completed within one year; and the extent to which the project is interdisciplinary.

For further information, please contact Dr. Robert Dubrow.