I study how environmental and social exposures interact to influence health with a particular focus on exposures caused by global climatic changes and society’s responses to those changes. To date my research has focused on the health impacts of exposure to air pollution from wildfires, extreme heat events, and proximity to urban vegetation. I have received funding for my research from the EPA, NSF, CDC, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the JPB Foundation. Prior to becoming an assistant professor in Geography at the University of Colorado, Boulder, I was a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. I completed my Ph.D. in Environmental Health Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley in 2014, a Masters of Public Health in 2007 from the University of California Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Science from Brown University in 2000.
My current research projects include a study investigating how wildfire smoke affects air quality and health of children in schools and at home, looking into the health and air quality impacts of the Marshall Fire, and trying to understand whether proximity to green space or people’s perceptions of green space matter more in affecting their mental health.