Pictured: John T. Szilagyi, postdoctoral researcher, environmental sciences and engineering
Gillings researchers are collaborating across disciplines, including chemists, biologists, epidemiologists, and engineers, to tackle real-world environmental problems.
The concept of One Health – the links between the health of people, animals and the environment – also connects UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health researchers working together to solve real-world environmental problems.
By Jill Stewart, PhD (Professor of Environmental Sciences and Engineering) and Will Vizuete, PhD (Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences and Engineering)
Using Big Data to Solve Big Public Health Problems: Gillings faculty thrive on tackling complex public health issues. We’re Gillings. We’re on it! Powerful technologies and innovative methods fuel their work, while UNC’s uniquely collaborative environment empowers them to reach across disciplines for answers to some of the most pressing public health challenges of our time.
Interdisciplinary collaboration between chemists, biologists, epidemiologists and engineers is helping Will Vizuete, PhD, associate professor of environmental sciences and engineering, find ways to better understand the effects of the atmosphere’s chemical makeup on air pollution toxicity and which populations are most affected.
“Anything that’s emitted into the air, like wildfires or automobile exhaust or power plant emissions, is harmful,” says Vizuete, whose background as a chemical engineer has helped inform his work.
“We don’t know the extent of how that harm changes once it enters the atmosphere.”
His approach includes using high-performance computers, developing new three-dimensional models to simulate the atmosphere, and testing air toxicity using living cells. The ultimate use of the data he generates is to influence policy changes and create more effective pollution controls.
Although air pollution affects everyone, children and older people are especially susceptible to air pollution mortality and morbidity, as are individuals of low socioeconomic status who may live near polluted areas. These issues also are important for low- and middle-income countries, where indoor cookstoves and coal burning are common.
Examining how things like power plant or car emissions interact with the chemicals already in the atmosphere will shed light on the best ways to protect those who are most vulnerable, Vizuete says.
“Everyone is impacted by air pollution, but our exposure is far more complicated than what we knew before,” Vizuete says. “What we’re trying to investigate and highlight is: What are the true drivers of toxicity in the atmosphere that we haven’t looked at yet that we need to look at down the line?”
“Unfortunately, a long history of social and environmental injustices has resulted in circumstances where poor and minority communities are disproportionately impacted by degraded environmental conditions.”
Jill Stewart, PhD
Professor of Environmental Sciences and Engineering
Jill Stewart, PhD, professor of environmental sciences and engineering, is exploring similar questions about water. Growing up on Chesapeake Bay, Stewart always has felt a connection to water. “Water is essential to life. People should be able to drink water, swim in water or fish from water without getting sick,” says Stewart, whose contributions to beach-related epidemiological studies helped form the scientific basis for revising U.S. recreational water-quality criteria.
Stewart is working to better understand how environmental conditions can affect human health, and how humans themselves influence this process. Her goal is improving the health and well-being of those affected by poor environmental conditions such as waste products, industrial hazards, and flood-prone development. “Unfortunately, a long history of social and environmental injustices has resulted in circumstances where poor and minority communities are disproportionately impacted by degraded environmental conditions,” she says.
Instead of culturing bacteria as they’ve done in the past, scientists now use molecular and genetic methods to measure pathogens and track contamination back to its original source. Stewart combines microbiology with geospatial and risk modeling to pinpoint when and where people are exposed to bacteria and to identify strategies to help prevent the exposures.
“It is a really exciting time to be an environmental microbiologist because the molecular biology tools we use keep advancing so quickly,” Stewart says. “The data are giving us a much better understanding of the ecology of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and the role of the environment in the spread of resistance among humans, animals, and the environment.”
In addition to working across disciplines in her own research, Stewart promotes collaboration as deputy director of the UNC Galápagos Initiative, where she leads campus research directors in identifying critical research questions, and as a member and co-teacher in the NC One Health Collaborative, which promotes dialogue about the interconnectedness of people, animals, and the environment.
“Collaborations are a really important part of the work I do,” Stewart says. “Traditional, disciplinary approaches will not be effective in addressing the major environmental challenges facing our generation.”
