Research Examples

In recent years, the exposome, encompassing the totality of environmental, socioeconomic, and health-related exposures throughout one’s life,¹ has emerged as a pivotal yet understudied dimension in the understanding of aging trajectories, longevity, and Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease-Related Dementias (AD/ADRD) risk, resilience, and disparities.

Extreme temperature events represent the leading cause of weather-related mortality in the U.S., and age is a key risk factor for severe health outcomes (e.g., death, hospitalizations) from exposure to extreme temperatures.

Extreme heat and cold are increasingly associated with morbidity and mortality in aging populations. This project is among the first to examine how outdoor extreme temperatures are associated with biological age acceleration measured with 22 biomarkers.

This one-year study will test whether air pollution accelerates the pace of biological aging and generate proof-of-concept for a method to monitor population health impacts of air pollution and efforts to reduce/mitigate it. 

We examine the impact of exposure to WFS-specific PM2.5 on emergency department visits and hospitalizations for incident AD/ADRD or exacerbations of AD/, linking population-weighted exposure, meteorology, and demographic variables to AD/ADRD events across the contiguous US for 2006-2023.

Our project investigates how power outages, a key consequence of ENSO-driven events, may amplify these health impacts. Using advanced statistical methods, we aim to uncover pathways of risk and identify vulnerable populations across the U.S.

We examine the association between weather extremes and persons buried in the nation’s largest indigent burial ground — Hart Island, New York, where more than one million unclaimed individuals are interred.

This project examines how extreme environmental events such as wildfires, floods, and hurricanes may increase risk for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD). 

Older adults are particularly vulnerable to heat due to age-related physiological changes and chronic health conditions, which can impair the body’s ability to regulate temperature and maintain homeostasis during heat exposure.