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Climate change and energy impacts on health

Climate change represents the greatest public health challenge of the 21st century, but mitigating climate change represents the greatest public health opportunity. Climate change has profound implications for human health, including heat-related illness and death; morbidity and mortality from storms; food and water insecurity; air pollution from wildfires, aeroallergens, and increased ground-level ozone; and vector-, water-, and food-borne diseases.

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Faculty and Research Topics
  • Kai Chen
    • Dr. Chen's research focuses on the intersection of climate change, air pollution, and human health. He researches how extreme temperature and ambient air pollution independently and interactively impact on aging populations under a changing climate.
  • Nicole Deziel
    • Associated with the rapid expansion in unconventional oil and gas development (i.e., “hydraulic fracturing” or “fracking”), concerns have arisen about the processes involved including greenhouse gas emissions, the release of toxic air pollutants (e.g., diesel exhaust, particulates), water contamination, and increased truck traffic. Dr. Deziel is leading an interdisciplinary project to investigate whether hydraulic fracturing is impacting water quality and neonatal health in the Appalachian Basin.
  • Robert Dubrow
    • The Yale Climate Change and Health Initiative, housed in EHS, includes affiliated faculty who work in these issues, as well as health impacts of human activities that cause climate change. With regard to the latter, EHS focuses on health effects of hydraulic fracturing.
  • Brian Leaderer
  • Zeyan Liew
  • Krystal Pollitt

Secondary Faculty: