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Global Health

Our work in Global Health focuses on identifying environmental, nutritional, and behavioral risk factors to reduce morbidity and improve health around the world. To examine the potential health effects of prevalent environmental contaminants, we have established long-term cohort studies in Beijing, the Republic of Seychelles, and the Slovak Republic in collaboration with local health partners studying the associations between air pollution and fetal growth, and nutrients and toxicants in fish and various health outcomes. Studies on air pollution and various health outcomes including the development of novel ambient data analysis methods and application of health risk assessment models has been ongoing in Nigeria, Iran, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and China. Work to improve linkage to and retention in the continuum of HIV care has resulted in collaborations with investigators from the Chinese Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, Vanderbilt, and Yale University to develop innovative behavioral interventions among Chinese men who have sex with men in Beijing. Finally, PHS faculty and partners in South Africa, Ghana, Niger, and Senegal are working to engage grass-roots organizations to reduce HIV stigma and discrimination. Descriptions of each faculty’s global health research is listed below.

Program Faculty

Paula A. Alio, PhD
South Africa, Ghana, Niger, and Senegal: Engages grass-roots organizations in each country to reduce HIV stigma and discrimination.

Elaine Hill, PhD
China: Study assessing health outcomes for left behind children (parent migrant workers).

India: We examine how the roll out of electrification (increased night time lights) impacts reports of violence against women.

Philip K. Hopke, PhD
Nigeria, Iran, Turkey, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, China, Czech Republic, and France: Collaborated on issues of air quality measurements, source apportionment, exposure assessment, and health risk analyses.

Todd A. Jusko, MS, PhD
Slovakia: SK-CHEER (Slovak Child Health and Environmental Exposure) Study examines the potential immunotoxicity of developmental POP exposures such as PCB and PFAS.

Mexico: Through a collaboration with Icahn School of Medicine at Mt Sinai, we examine immune outcomes among a cohort of children (PROGRESS) exposed to lead and metal mixtures

Yu Liu, PhD, MPH
Beijing, China: Community-based intervention to enhance HIV testing, linkage-to-care and anti-retroviral therapy adherence among men who have sex with men

China: Epidemiological study to understand HIV transmission dynamics and socio-behavioral risk factors for HIV among sexual minority men.

David Rich, ScD, MPH
Beijing, China: BABIES (Beijing Air pollution and Birth weight Impact Examination Study) is a prospective cohort study  examining associations between air pollution exposure during pregnancy, fetal growth, and biomarkers of inflammation, oxidative stress, placental growth and development, and metabolic deficiency.

Edwin Van Wijngaarden, PhD, MSc
Republic of Seychelles: The Seychelles Child Development Study includes several large mother-child cohorts to study the potential impact of a diet high in fish and exposure to related nutrients and toxicants on health, child development and biomarkers reflecting potential mechanisms of toxicity.