September 4, 2024 — We are thrilled to announce the appointment of three new faculty members to the Department of Environmental Health this fall. I am so excited about the perspectives and knowledge each faculty member brings to the department, from their work investigating the effects of climate change on vulnerable communities, to examining exposomes in entire communities, and looking more deeply at the health impacts of engineered water systems.
I hope you will join me in welcoming Amruta Nori-Sarma, Peng Gao, and Hannah Healy to the Department. Learn more about our new faculty in their bios below.
Sincerely,
Kari Nadeau, Chair
Department of Environmental Health
Amruta Nori-Sarma, PhD
Assistant Professor of Environmental Health and Population Science
Dr. Amruta Nori-Sarma joins HSPH after serving as Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Health at Boston University School of Public Health since 2021. She has an MPH from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and a PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from the Yale University School of the Environment. Her field of research is environmental epidemiology, with a focus on human health impacts of extreme weather caused by climate change, including extreme heat and air pollution. Dr. Nori-Sarma uses cutting-edge quantitative and analytical methods to investigate the health outcomes of individuals in the US and vulnerable communities in India, and she prioritizes interventions and community engagement in her research.
An important goal of Dr. Nori-Sarma’s work is to amplify climate awareness and action around the world. She is Multiple PI of a U24 NIH grant: “CAFÉ: a Research Coordinating Center to Convene, Accelerate, Foster, and Expand the Climate Change and Health Community of Practice.” This BUSPH-HSPH center does outstanding work to further efforts to translate climate change research into practical solutions to reduce health effects. Dr. Nori-Sarma is excited to join the HSPH community to continue building out her work on the impact of climate change on health in the most vulnerable communities around the globe. We are pleased to welcome Dr. Nori-Sarma to the department, beginning October 15, 2024.
Peng Gao, PhD
Assistant Professor of Environmental Health and Exposomics
Dr. Peng Gao has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh, where he also holds an appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Swanson School of Engineering. Dr. Gao received his master’s degree in chemistry from Case Western Reserve University and his doctoral degree in Soil and Water Sciences from the University of Florida. After completing postdoctoral training at Stanford University School of Medicine, Dr. Gao began to work in exposomics, which examines the holistic impact of a person’s environmental exposure totality over their lifetime. His research using innovative exposomics techniques in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, has contributed significantly to our understanding of environmental influences on various respiratory diseases, including asthma, lung cancer, and pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Recently, following a large chemical spill and combustion event in East Palestine, Ohio, his team collaborated with local community partners to investigate the post-accident chemical exposome profiles in the impacted areas. Collectively, his research has provided comprehensive assessments of the fate and transport of contaminants, resultant environmental exposures, potential health risks, and disease etiology. Dr. Gao is looking forward to joining us to further advance the field of exposomics and contribute to our understanding of how environmental exposures impact human health at the omics level. We are pleased to welcome Dr. Gao, beginning November 15, 2024.
Hannah Healy, PhD
Assistant Professor of Environmental Health and Exposure Science
Dr. Hannah Greenwald Healy completed her PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, in May 2023 and is currently a Gaylord Donnelley Postdoctoral Associate at Yale University, Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering. Dr. Healy’s research focuses on environmental microbiomes within the built environment. She conducts field work, lab work, and analytical research on issues in engineered water systems, including drinking water and wastewater, and she analyzes the impact of these systems on human health. During her PhD, Dr. Healy also focused on the presence of Legionella pneumophila in drinking water from building closures during the pandemic. This required an international collaboration of 11 institutions that Dr. Healy co-led.
Dr. Healy’s research utilizes sequencing-based approaches to limit pathogenic threats to public health, through approaches such as wastewater surveillance and microbiome engineering. Through her research program, she will continue to examine the intersections of infectious diseases with climate change and investigate health disparities in the built environment. As a proponent of team science, Dr. Healy is looking forward to forging strong collaborations with the faculty at HSPH as well as broader Boston institutions, public health departments, and water utilities. We are pleased to welcome Dr. Healy to the department, beginning January 1, 2025.
