EH Gijs van Seventer Seminar: The Global Burden of Disease attributable to ambient air pollution: Estimates of current burden and 25-year trends from the GBD 2015 study

Speaker: Aaron J Cohen MPH, DSc, MPH Consulting Scientist, Health Effects Institute, Boston, MA Affiliate Professor of Global Health, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington Adjunct Assistant Professor of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health Exposure to ambient air pollution increases mortality and morbidity and shortens life expectancy. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors study 2015 (GBD 2015) estimated the burden of disease attributable to 79 risk factors in 188 countries from 1990 to 2015. GBD 2015 identified ambient air pollution as a leading cause of global disease burden, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Dr. Cohen will present the methods and results of GBD 2015 with respect to ambient air pollution, including spatial and temporal patterns of mortality and burden of disease attributable to ambient air pollution from 1990 to 2015 at global, regional, and country levels. Aaron J Cohen is Consulting Scientist at the Health Effects Institute (HEI) in Boston, MA. Prior to his retirement from HEI in May 2016 Dr. Cohen led for 26 years HEI’s US and international epidemiologic research programs on the adverse effects of air pollution. Past HEI responsibilities included the organization and management of epidemiologic research projects such as the Reanalysis of the American Cancer Society and Six-City studies of air pollution and mortality, and multi- city time-series studies of air pollution and daily mortality in Europe, North America, Asia and Latin America. He led HEI’s 2004 and 2010 reviews of the literature on the health effects of air pollution in the developing countries of Asia, and initiated, and currently co-coordinates, HEI’s Health Outcomes Research program, which assesses the health impacts of actions taken to improve air quality. Since 1999 Dr. Cohen has served as a Temporary Advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO) on the evaluation of epidemiologic evidence, air pollution health impact assessment, and air quality guideline development and has served as a member of International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) working groups on diesel exhaust and outdoor air pollution. He co-chaired the Expert Groups that produced estimates of the global burden of disease due to Urban Air Pollution in 2000 and Ambient Air Pollution for the Global Burden of Disease 2010 project and is a member of the Core Analytic Team of the Global Burden of Disease project. Epidemiology is Dr. Cohen’s second career. He is also a Registered Respiratory Therapist (AS and BS, Northeastern University), and worked for 15 years in newborn intensive care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and subsequently as Research Associate in Perinatal Epidemiology, conducting epidemiologic and clinical research on neonatal respiratory disease, and the evaluation of related medical technologies. Dr. Cohen holds a D.Sc. in Epidemiology (1991), and Masters in Public Health (1985) from the Boston University School of Public Health, where he is adjunct Assistant Professor of Environmental Health. He is also Affiliate Professor of Global Health at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.