Principal Investigators
Stefanie Ebelt, ScD
Professor, Department of Environmental Health
My research focuses on examining cardiovascular and respiratory effects of ambient air quality using population- and panel-based approaches. I lead several large-scale time-series studies of ambient air quality and acute morbidity, with specific interests in assessing the health impacts of air pollution, meteorological conditions, and weather extremes. My research also includes field investigations, with detailed exposure and health outcome data collected in panels of susceptible individuals.
Howard Chang, PhD
Professor, Departments of Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, and Environmental Science
My primary research interest is in the development and application of statistical methods for analyzing complex spatial-temporal exposure and health data. Our current projects focus on two broad areas of population health: (1) exposure assessment for air quality and extreme weather events, especially under a changing climate, and (2) health effect estimation and impact assessment leveraging large databases, such as birth/death certificates, hospital billing records, electronic health records, and disease surveillance systems. I also have collaborative experience in ecology, infectious disease, social epidemiology, and community intervention trials.
Noah Scovronick, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Health
Noah’s research focuses on understanding the links between human health, climate change, and climate policy.
Staff Members and Post-Docs
Zachary McCann, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow/Trainee, Department of Environmental Health
Zach is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health. He received his PhD in Medical Sociology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Zach is interested in the relationship between natural hazards (e.g. hurricanes, flooding, severe storms), air pollutants, and cardiorespiratory health and health disparities in a changing climate. Zach’s research has documented how both natural hazards and air pollution can exacerbate cardiorespiratory morbidity and mortality. In his future work Zach aims to explore how natural hazards can drive exposure to air pollution and how these exposures harm population health and generate health disparities.
Haisu Zhang, MPH
Public Health Program Associate, Department of Environmental Health
Haisu is a full-time research associate in the Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health at Rollins School of Public Health. He received his MSPH in Epidemiology at Emory. His research focuses on using epidemiological approaches to explore the short-term health effects of various environmental factors, such as air pollutants and ambient temperature. Haisu will start his PhD training in Environmental Health Sciences at Emory University in Fall 2023 and continue his research in environmental epidemiology. In his free time, he likes traveling, playing badminton, skiing and cooking.
Rohan D’Souza, MPH
Biostatistician, Department of Biostatistician
Rohan is a staff biostatistician in the Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics (BIOS) at Emory Rollins School of Public Health. He joined the ENVISION group in 2018, after getting his Master’s degree from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and is originally from Houston, Texas. He manages and processes both clinical and billing health data, creates datasets for analysis, advises in study design and methodology, ensures reproducibility with analyses, and is involved with proposal and manuscript development. Rohan is a certified SAS programmer who leverages the program to handle typically large and state-wide datasets as well as running statistical analysis.
Morgan Lane, MPH
Manager of Research Projects, Department of Environmental Health
Morgan is a project manager in the Department of Environmental Health who has been at Emory since 2017 when she started her MPH in Global Health. She worked at the Emory School of Medicine for three years on infectious diseases and climate and health research, and moved over to the School of Public Health in 2022. With the ENVISION group, she manages regulatory requirements and project tracking. She is also working on a time series study investigating the association between heat and cardiovascular diseases.
Xiaping Zheng, MPH
Biostatistician, Department of Biostatistics
Xiaping is a staff biostatistician in the Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics at Emory. He works on several projects studying the link between environmental factors and population health. In his research, large-scale exposure and health databases are leveraged, which include national weather service, disease surveillance system, hospital billing records, electronic health records (EHR) and birth certificates. He also provides support for master students’ theses and projects on programming, study design, and statistics.
Trainees
Brooke Lappe
PhD Candidate, Department of Environmental Health
Brooke Lappe is a doctoral student in the Environmental Health Sciences program in the Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health at Emory University. Her research focuses on climate change and health, air quality, and infectious diseases. She collaborates with scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Moderna, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and UC Davis. Prior to joining the doctoral program, Brooke received her Master of Public Health from Emory University, completed a Pathways Internship at the Environmental Protection Agency, and worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Epidemiology Research and Innovations Branch.