My research is multi-disciplinary and sits at the interface of the more traditional departmental research on exposure assessment and epidemiology.
Her research includes studies focusing on primarily three areas:
- the effect of exposure error, exposure modification and confounding on epidemiology and toxicology,
- the contribution of indoor and outdoor sources to air pollutant exposures, and
- the impact of these exposures on cardiovascular health. This research is intended to incorporate critical information about air pollutant exposures to help understand their relationship to human health.
We are currently conducting a series of panel studies characterizing the particulate and gaseous exposures of individuals who may be particularly sensitive to air pollutant exposures, including children, senior citizens, and those with pre-existing pulmonary or cardiovascular disease. These studies will provide new information about the composition of fine particle exposures and will help to determine the relative contributions of outdoor and indoor sources to these exposures.
We are also conducting several studies examining the relationship between air pollutant exposures and cardiovascular health. As part of these studies, we are examining the relative effects of indoor and outdoor air pollution on cardiovascular health and will quantify the effect of exposure error on risk estimates from epidemiological studies. Data from these studies will help identify the toxic component responsible for particulate-related mortality and morbidity observed in epidemiological and animal studies of air pollutants.
We are also involved in several studies that examine the behavior of particles in indoor environments. In a study conducted in Los Angeles, CA, we will estimate the penetration efficiency and deposition rates of fine particles in indoor residential environments and determine whether their values vary with particle size and air exchange rates. Information obtained in this study will help to resolve a long-standing indoor air modeling problem, which to date has limited our ability to estimate the relative contributions of particles of outdoor and indoor origin to indoor concentrations and to personal exposures.