Michelle L. Bell
Associate Professor of Environmental HealthResearch
Dr. Bell’s research addresses air pollution and human health by integrating several disciplines, such as environmental engineering and epidemiology. The overall aim of her work is to answer scientific questions regarding how air pollution affects health and to perform policy-relevant research that contributes to well-informed decision-making and to greater public understanding of environmental health hazards. Much of Dr. Bell’s work uses mathematical modeling to examine the relationship between air pollution, weather, and human health endpoints such as mortality and hospital admissions. Some of this research examines high air pollution episodes. For instance, one project researched the health impacts of the London Fog of 1952, a historically important air pollution episode that catalyzed modern-day scientific study and policy for air pollution. The results indicated that 10,000 to 12,000 persons died from the episode, rather than the 3,000 to 5,000 typically reported. Other research examines the association between health and air pollution at typical concentrations over longer time periods. Dr. Bell has led national studies of the links between air pollution and risk of hospitalizations and mortality. Other work includes estimating the exposure-response curve between concentrations and health risks and exploring whether heterogeneity in pollution-health estimates can be explained by differences in socio-economic characteristics. Additional recent and ongoing projects include a study of heat-related mortality in Latin American cities, the impacts of air pollution on low birth weight in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and the relationships between the chemical composition of particulate matter and health. Dr. Bell is also interested in the health impacts of climate change; in particular the potential changes in air pollution due to climatic change and the subsequent health impacts. Currently, Dr. Bell has research projects based in the United States, Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Korea, and Taiwan. She is the recipient of the Rosenblith New Investigator Award and the Outstanding New Environmental Scientist (ONES) NIH Award.
Research Students and Postdocs
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Jiyoung Son, postdoc – Association of air pollutants and sources with health outcomes in Korea
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G. Brooke Anderson – Current issues in relating ozone pollution, temperature, and human mortality
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Curt DellaValle – Impacts of ambient aeroallergen concentrations in Eastern U.S. cities and respiratory symptoms among sensitive populations
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Keita Ebisu, Ph.D. student
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Mercedes Bravo, Ph.D. student
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Meng Ji – Meta-analysis of the association between short-term exposure to ambient ozone and respiratory hospital admissions
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Anna Ruth Pickett – Assessment of indoor air pollution in the homes of U.S. infants
