AE BOSC Meeting: Meet the Scientists, CPHEA-PHITD-PHESD New Frontiers on the Health Impacts of Air Pollution
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Meet the Scientists, Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment (CPHEA) PHITD and PHESD New Frontiers on the Health Impacts of Air Pollution: Dr. Cavin Ward-Caviness CPHEA, Public Health and Integrated Toxicology Division (PHITD), Clinical Research Branch Environmental Epidemiology in the Era of Electronic Health Records. * Created EPA CARES – a resource of several million University of North Carolina electronic health records (> 90,000 patients) * Allows for the exploration of environmental health using the deep clinical phenotyping and sample size of electronic health records * Opens up a wealth of novel study designs and approaches that integrate well with diverse research approaches (AOPs, in vivo/vitro toxicology) Dr. Anne Weaver CPHEA, Public Health & Environmental Systems Division (PHESD), Epidemiology Branch. Air pollution, health, and environmental justice. * Area-level socioeconomic status (SES) shown to be associated with health outcomes including: Obesity, Hypertension, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Mortality, Life Expectancy * Area-level SES also associated with air pollution * Lower-SES urban communities tend to be more polluted * Key question: are health effects from air pollution different based on area of residence? Dr. Mehdi Hazari CPHEA, Public Health and Integrated Toxicology Division (PHITD) Cardiopulmonary and Immunotoxicology Branch * Using animal toxicology to understand health effects, mechanisms and modifying factors. * Measure the health effects of air pollution? * Provide biological plausibility (i.e., does the exposure result in the observed outcome? What are the modifying factors (e.g., diet, living environment)? * Characterize the mechanism driving the response * Identify susceptible populations (e.g., hypertension) * Parallel models and endpoints used in humans to strengthen “causal” determinations.