Dr. Francine Laden is a Professor of Environmental Epidemiology and Associate Chair of the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School and Brigham & Women’s Hospital. Francine received her ScD in Epidemiology and MS in Environmental Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. She is an author on over 200 peer reviewed publications focusing on environmental epidemiology of chronic diseases specifically looking at air pollution, persistent organic pollutants, and the contextual environment.

More information can be found by viewing Dr. Laden’s Harvard Catalyst Profile.

Associate Professor
Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital | Harvard Medical School | Department of Environmental Health, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health

Dr. Hart is an associate professor at the Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School and the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.  She is an environmental epidemiologist with a focus in incorporating high quality exposure measures of exposure into ongoing and forming prospective cohort studies. She is the Scientific Director of the Growing Up Today Study (GUTS), and PI of a grant in that cohort to examine the impacts of indoor and outdoor pollution and personal exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals on semen quality, and is highly involved in expanding the focus of the Nurses’ Health Study 3 (http://www.nhs3.org/) to include a substantial environmental component.

Learn more about Dr. Hart by viewing her Harvard Catalyst Profile.

Trained in environmental health and epidemiology, Peter has focused his research on estimating the influence of spatial factors, including exposure to nature, the built environment, the food environment, air pollution, light pollution, noise, and socioeconomic factors, on health behaviors and chronic disease. He is developing methodologies linking smartphone-based global positioning systems (GPS) and wearable device accelerometry data to understand how spatial factors influence health behaviors. Recently, he is creating novel metrics of spatial factors by applying Deep Learning algorithms to Google Street View imagery.

You can learn more about Dr. James by viewing his UC Davis profile

Sanjana Bhaskar is a doctoral student in the Population Health Sciences program, within the Environmental Health department. Jaime is a member of her doctoral advising committee. She graduated from the Environmental Health SM program in 2021. Her research is focused on assessing the exposure burden of PM2.5, studying the impacts of these exposures on male reproductive health and prediction of indoor PM2.5 levels. Her background includes a prior Master of Philosophy in Bioscience Enterprise from University of Cambridge and an undergraduate degree in Biotechnology at the University of Surrey, UK. Prior to the SM program at Harvard, she held diverse roles across research in molecular biology, the pharmaceutical industry, life sciences and digital health consulting and environmental health research in India. She is from India and loves dancing, playing with dogs and music.

Erin is a doctoral student in Population Health Sciences in the Department of Environmental Health with a focus in environmental epidemiology. She is working with Dr. Francine Laden. Erin has a B.S. in Biology from Rhodes College and an MHS in Social Factors in Health from Johns Hopkins University. In her free time, Erin likes birding, drawing, and reading.

Dr. Jie Chen is a postdoctoral research fellow working with Drs. Laden and Hart on analyses of the impacts of the exposome during childhood and risk of hypertension in adulthood in the Growing Up Today Study.

Ryan is a doctoral student in Population Health Sciences, focusing on environmental exposure assessment. He is working with Dr. Peter James. Ryan holds a BS in Biology from Pepperdine University and an MPH in Global Health from Vanderbilt University. His research interests include developing novel methods for quantifying and qualifying exposure to nature and the health impacts of exposure to biodiversity.

Cindy Hu is a doctoral student in Population Health Sciences and will be working with Dr. Jaime Hart.  She did her undergrad work at Smith College.

Hana Lee is a doctoral student in Population Health Sciences, focusing on environmental epidemiology. She received her MPH in Epidemiology from Emory Rollins School of Public Health and worked at Emory Health Service Research Center prior to joining Harvard Chan School of Public Health.

Claire is a postdoctoral research fellow working with Dr. Hart. She completed her PhD at the University of Washington and her BS in biology and MS in Public Health at the University of Utah

Makiko is a postdoctoral research fellow working with Jaime on the RECAP study in GUTS. She has a PhD from Jichi Medical University, a MS in Medical Sciences, Clinical Investigation from Harvard Medical School, and an MD from Jichi Medical University

Jennifer Rooney is a PhD student in Environmental Epidemiology working with Dr. Hart. She received her M.S in Environmental Health Data Analytics at Boston University School of Public Health and BS in Environmental, Earth, and Ocean Sciences at UMass Boston. She came to Harvard with over 7 years of clinical research experience in Boston hospitals. She is interested in studying the biological mechanisms by which air pollution causes thyroid disease.

Dr. Li Yi is a postdoctoral research fellow working with Drs. James, Hart, and Laden on analyses utilizing the rich smartphone data being collected in the Nurses’ Health Studies and Growing Up Today Study. Li’s research scope lies at the intersection of public health, spatial sciences, and urban planning, focusing on integrating wearable devices, sensors, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in examining the impact of the built and natural environment features and characteristics on health behaviors and chronic disease outcomes. He earned a BS in Environmental Studies from the China Agricultural University, and MSc in Urban Planning from the University College London, and MS in Architectural and Urban Conservation from the University of Pennsylvania, and a PhD in Population, Health and Place from the University of Southern California.

For more information on Dr. Li Yi and his research, please visit liyispatial.com. Also, feel free to follow his Twitter @liyispatial for any latest updates.

Boya Zhang is a postdoctoral fellow working in the lab on a project exploring methods to address measurement error in environmental epidemiology studies. She has a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Michigan, a master’s in Environmental Health from Peking University, and Bachelor’s degrees in Sociology and Preventative Medicine from Peking University. She will be staying on a postdoc working with Shruthi Mahalingaiah on environmental and reproductive epidemiology in the Nurses’ Health Study 3 and Growing up Today Studies

William was a doctoral student in the Population Health Sciences PhD working with Drs. Laden and Hart. He graduated in 2023. William’s thesis focused on the impacts of long-term environmental exposures on risk of sudden cardiac death.

Dr. Nicole (Nikki) DeVille was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Channing Division of Network Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Working with Dr. Jaime Hart, her research focuses on using spatiotemporal approaches to investigate the impacts of multiple environmental and contextual exposures, including air pollution, green space, and neighborhood socioeconomic status, on health outcomes, such as cardiovascular disease and cognition. Her research interests also include health disparities, mental health and wellness, and public health pedagogy. Nikki earned a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University, M.P.H. in Epidemiology from University of Hawai’i at Manoa, and Ph.D. in Public Health from University of California, Irvine.  She is currently an assistant professor at University of Nevada Las Vegas 

Elise Elliott is interested in investigating exposure to multiple environmental contaminants, in particular air and water pollutants, in relation to public health impacts. Her research focuses on exposure assessment and spatiotemporal distribution of environmental contaminants, multiple environmental exposures, and chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, reproductive health, and cancer. She received a Ph.D. in Environmental Health Sciences from Yale University, where she assessed environmental exposures and public health impacts of unconventional natural gas development (“fracking”). She received Bachelor’s degrees in Biology and Philosophy of Science and a Master’s degree in Environmental Biology from Leiden University.  She is currently working at the Health Effects Institute on projects related to fracking and air pollution.

Melissa Fiffer was a doctoral student in environmental epidemiology who brings 11 years of experience working for the federal government, primarily in the US EPA’s Office of Atmospheric Programs. Her research interests broadly include air pollution and health, and the impact of contextual factors such as greenness and walkability. Her thesis focused on the association between multiple environmental exposures and risk of Type II diabetes and she graduated in 2022. In her free time, she enjoys running and hiking around New England and Florida with her dog.

Audrey Gaskins is an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Emory Rollins School of Public Health. Her research focuses on understanding the influence of diet and environment on reproductive outcomes including age at menarche, menstrual cycle function, semen quality, fecundity, pregnancy loss, and fertility.

Stephanie Grady was a doctoral student, and is now a postdoctoral fellow, at BUSPH studying environmental epidemiology. She is interested in examining the interplay between the physical and social environment on cardiovascular disease and mental health outcomes. Before joining BU, Stephanie worked as a research coordinator on our longitudinal panel study examining air pollution and health in Veterans with chronic pulmonary obstructive disease.

Read Stephanie’s articles here

Isabel Holland is a research assistant at the Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She is primarily involved in obtaining and linking geographic datasets using geographic information systems (GIS), as well as an active study examining the impacts of daily life exposures to air pollution and endocrine disrupting chemicals on semen quality.  She recently completed her masters in the Department of Environmental Health, working with Dr. Hart.

Hari is a cancer epidemiologist studying how multilevel biological and neighborhood factors influence susceptibility for prostate and other cancers. His work informs “precision prevention” approaches for cancer control, which target screening and early detection interventions based on sociodemographic and geographic characteristics of communities at risk.
Hari earned his ScD in cancer epidemiology at Harvard and MPH at Boston University. His work draws on expertise in geospatial analysis and experience applying epidemiologic methods for mediation analysis. As part of SpacEE Lab, Hari has led studies examining associations between neighborhood contextual environments and prostate cancer using data from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and state registry-based cohorts of men with prostate cancer. He supports colleagues in use of SAS, R, ArcMap and Google Earth Engine.

Learn more about Hari’s work by visiting his personal website and list of publications.  He is current faculty at Rutgers.

Marcia Pescador Jimenez was a postdoctoral research fellow working with Dr. James. Her research focuses on addressing the influence of geographic contextual factors throughout the life-course, including access to green space, on cardiovascular health, cognitive decline, and health disparities. In related research, Marcia seeks to identify biological mechanisms linking geographic context with health through mediation analysis.  She is currently an Assistant Professor at the Boston University School of Public Health.

Dr. Jochem Klompmaker was a postdoctoral research fellow working with Drs. Hart, James, and Laden.  He earned a bachelors in Environmental Sciences, masters in Toxicology and Environmental Health, and PhD in Environmental Epidemiology from Utrecht University. He is currently working at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and IRAS (Utrecht University)

Huichu Li completed the Population Health Sciences PhD in 2021 concentrating in environmental epidemiology. Prior to her doctoral studies, she received a Bachelor’s degree of preventive medicine and completed a M.S. in Occupational and Environmental Health. Her research interests include health effects of multiple exposure to environmental stressors including particulate air pollution, greenness, UV radiation, lights, and noise.  

Unnati was a doctoral student in the PHS program working with Dr. Jaime Hart who graduated in 2023. She graduated with her BS in Community Health from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2016 and with her MPH in Epidemiology from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in 2018. She spent the 2018-2019 academic year on a Fulbright-Nehru Research Scholarship in New Delhi, India studying the impact of fine particulate matter on COPD and anemia at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Her research interests focus on the impacts of impact of of air pollution and other environmental exposures on respiratory health, cardiovascular health, and neurodevelopment, as well as on the intersection between research, policy, and implementation. Her hobbies include dancing, traveling, and reading.

Dr. Charlotte (Charlie) Roscoe was a postdoctoral fellow working with Drs. Peter James and Molin Wang on assessment of the impacts of measurement error on studies of contextual exposures. Charlie earned a BSc in Biology from the University of Bristol, and MSc in Ecosystems and Biodiversity from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, and Université Libre de Bruxelles, and a PhD in Environmental Epidemiology from Imperial College London. She is interested in disentangling environmental exposures from correlated socio-economic factors in the context of cardiovascular disease epidemiology and prevention.

She is currently an Assistant Professor at Oregon State University School of Public Health

Emily completed a masters in environmental epidemiology at HSPH working with data in the lab on diabetes and air pollution. She is currently a doctoral student working with Dr. Shruthi Mahalingaiah.

Dr. Trang VoPham is an Assistant Professor in the Epidemiology Program of the Public Health Sciences Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center .
Prior to joining Fred Hutch, she was faculty at Harvard Medical School from 2018-2019. Dr. VoPham completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cancer Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital from 2015-2018. She holds a PhD and MPH in Epidemiology from the University of Pittsburgh, an MS in Geographic Information Science and Technology from the University of Southern California, and a BA in Sociology and Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia. Dr. VoPham’s research interests include environmental epidemiology, cancer epidemiology, and geospatial science. Her research focuses on using geospatial technologies, such as geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing methods, to conduct epidemiologic studies that investigate how environmental exposures might impact cancer risk.

Grete Wilt was a doctoral student in Population Health Sciences concentrating in Environmental Epidemiology.  She worked with Dr. James on the Nurses’ Health Study 3 Mobile Health Study and graduated in 2023.