J. A. Sarnat

Biography

My research focuses on characterizing human exposure to urban air pollution.  My deep interest in environmental exposure science is motivated by the many epidemiologic and toxicologic findings linking air pollution to a range of adverse health endpoints.  This body of research has established air pollution as a major contributor to the global burden of disease, although substantial questions remain concerning the specific pollutant sources and chemical components of the urban air mixture most responsible for the observed effects. Public health interventions will be of limited effectiveness without an improved understanding of the true causal agents of effect as well as the most significant routes of exposure to these agents.  Specifically, my research addresses these issues through investigations of factors affecting exposure to urban air pollution, the impact of measurement error in air pollution exposure studies, confounding in epidemiologic analyses with respect to co-pollutant exposures, and the associations between specific pollutant components and sources and corresponding health responses.

Research Interest

 epidemiology, toxicology, air pollution