Climate Change

This research explores how weather and heat waves affect health in the present day, and how health risks from weather and air pollution could be affected by a changing climate. We have investigated how weather-related mortality differs by region, population characteristics, and heat wave characteristics (e.g., timing in summer), which gives insight into adaptation to extreme conditions. By linking air quality, meteorological, and climate change models, we estimated changes in ozone levels and subsequent health response under a changing climate for 50 U.S. cities. Another topic of interest is co-benefits in which policies aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions may result in improvements in air quality, and thereby health, in the near term. Future research projects will address changes in exposure-response relationships through adaptation. We recently began a study of how climate change could impact forest fires and thereby human health.