Data Science Talk Series 

Air Pollution, Extreme Weather, and the Urban Exposome: Advancing Exposure Science with AI and Precision Health (Online)

Abstract: As urban populations continue to increase in the U.S. and globally, there is growing concern about the impact of urban environmental determinants on population health, ranging from traditional pollutants to emergent issues such as natural disasters. This talk will focus on modern exposure science approaches to characterize exposures to air pollution, natural disasters, and urban exposome, as well as to incorporate them in health research to understand potential biological mechanisms. These approaches include advanced statistical models, GIS, and machine learning methods. The approaches highlighted throughout the talk are applicable to epidemiological studies, risk assessment, and public health actions.  

Bio of the speaker: Kai Zhang, MS, MA, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Population and Community Health at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth.  Dr. Zhang received a PhD degree in Environmental Health and an MA degree in Statistics at the University of Michigan, and an MS degree and a BS degree in Environmental Engineering from Tsinghua and Southeast University in China, respectively. Dr. Zhang’s research interest focuses on characterizing environmental exposures, reducing the human health effects associated with disasters, and exploring the role of social and environmental stressors (air pollution, natural environment, built environment, and green space) in relation to chronic diseases. Dr. Zhang serves as the Secretary of the International Society of Exposure Science (ISES). He is also an Associate Editor for Science of the Total Environment and the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology. His research has been featured in prestigious international journals, including Nature Medicine, Nature Climate Change, Nature Communications, Science Advances, Circulation, Circulation Research, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Environmental Health Perspectives, and Environmental Science & Technology, among others.