About us
Introduction
The Department of Global Environmental Health (GEH) aims to study the relationships between the environment and human health and to produce well-educated professionals with the ability to undertake epidemiological research.
Research
Our research interest includes climate change and variability, air pollution, and human health across multiple countries in environmental epidemiology. We address the scientific questions of how environmental factors are associated with health outcomes and potential socio-economic determinants that modify the exposure-response associations.
GEH has multiple collaborations with both domestic and international colleagues. Ongoing projects we are involved in include
Health Risk Assessment of Climate Change and Air Pollution
Global Perspectives of Seasonal Changes of Suicide and Associations between Suicide and Weather
Climate Change Impacts on Human Health in the selected Pacific Island countries
Establishment of an Early Warning System for Infectious Diseases in Southern Africa Incorporating Climate Predictions
Education
We provide an introductory course, Environmental Health, under UTokyo School of Public Health. Students learn basic concepts and methods to assess environmental exposures and health effects and take an opportunity to expand their understanding of global environmental issues.
We also provide an advanced course, Methods for Environmental Health Research, under UTokyo School of Public Health. Students learn knowledge and techniques in statistical methodologies using R to investigate/estimate the short-term association between environmental stressors and human health that have been widely used in the field of environmental epidemiology.
Research topics for students
Students in GEH are expected to develop their research topics, primarily focusing on health risk assessment for climate change and outdoor air pollution, e.g., investigating an association between all-cause or cause-specific mortality and weather factors or air pollutants using single- and multi-country data.