Gregory Wellenius
Profiles

Gregory Wellenius, SCD

Professor, Environmental Health - Boston University School of Public Health

(617) 358-2269
wellenius@bu.edu
Talbot
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Biography

Gregory Wellenius is a Professor on Environmental Health at the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) and Director of the new BUSPH Center for Climate and Health. He is an environmental epidemiologist committed to reducing the adverse health impacts of continued climate change through research, training, and engagement. Dr. Wellenius also teaches an introductory graduate-level class on quantitative methods and serves on the Research Committee of the Health Effects Institute, as a visiting scientist with Google, and on the executive committee of the Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance.

In partnership with a faculty, staff, and students from diverse disciplines, Dr. Wellenius’s research seeks to generate the actionable scientific evidence needed to ensure that our communities are as resilient, sustainable, and healthy as possible. Specifically, his group seeks to: 1) understand the adverse health impacts of extreme weather events, air pollution, and other climate-relevant hazards, 2) assess the effectiveness of strategies to reduce these adverse health impacts, and 3) leverage novel signals to provide timely and actionable insights to public health officials and other key stakeholders. For example, his recent publications highlight the risks posed by extreme heat to our physical and mental health, the limited health benefits of heat warnings and advisories, and the potential utility of data on internet search patterns and population mobility to inform public health.

Prior to joining the faculty at BU in 2020, Dr. Wellenius served as Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health and Director of Brown’s Center for Environmental Health and Technology. Prior to that, he earned dual doctorate degrees from the Departments of Environmental Health and Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the Cardiovascular Division of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital), and served as Instructor in Medicine at BIDMC and Harvard Medical School. He has published extensively on the cardiovascular effects of ambient air pollution, contributed to the US EPA’s 2009 Integrated Science Assessment for Particulate Matter, provided invited expert testimony on this topic before the US House of Representatives and the US Senate, and served as a co-author of the 4th National Climate Assessment of the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). He is the 2019 winner of the ISEE Tony McMichael Mid-Term Career Award.

Other Positions

  • Director, Center for Climate & Health - Boston University School of Public Health

Education

  • Harvard School of Public Health, ScD Field of Study: Environmental Health
  • McGill University, MSc
  • McGill University, BSc

Websites

Classes Taught

  • SPHPH717

Publications

  • Published on 5/29/2025

    Wesselink AK, Gause EL, Spangler KD, Hystad P, Kirwa K, Willis MD, Wellenius GA, Wise LA. Erratum: Exposure to Ambient Heat and Risk of Spontaneous Abortion: A Case-Crossover Study. Epidemiology. 2025 Jul 01; 36(4):e19. PMID: 40424394.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 4/17/2025

    Korfmacher M, Hartwell C, Hill K, Matthews-Trigg N, Hess J, Nori-Sarma A, Wellenius G, Errett N. Lessons learnt from the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome: a qualitative study of western Washington's healthcare community response. BMJ Open. 2025 Apr 17; 15(4):e089093. PMID: 40246560.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 3/29/2025

    de Bont J, Rajiva A, Mandal S, Stafoggia M, Banerjee T, Dholakia H, Garg A, Ingole V, Jaganathan S, Kloog I, Krishna B, Lane K, Mall RK, Menon J, Nori-Sarma A, Prabhakaran D, Tiwari AS, Wei Y, Wellenius GA, Schwartz J, Prabhakaran P, Ljungman P. Synergistic associations of ambient air pollution and heat on daily mortality in India. Environ Int. 2025 May; 199:109426. PMID: 40245548.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 2/20/2025

    Harrington LB, Cushing-Haugen KL, Nguyen S, Bellettiere J, LaMonte MJ, Eaton CB, Allison MA, Wallace RB, Manson JE, Jensen MK, Kabrhel C, Wellenius GA, Lee IM, Mukamal KJ, LaCroix AZ. Sedentary behaviors and venous thromboembolism risk among older women: the Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health study. J Thromb Haemost. 2025 May; 23(5):1636-1647. PMID: 39986610.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 2/12/2025

    Hoover C, Trivedi AN, Bello A, Culpepper WJ, Gasper J, Gaither R, Jiang L, Rennix C, Schneiderman A, Wellenius GA, Woskie SR, Savitz DA. Deployment to bases with open burn pits and mortality of US Military Veterans. Occup Environ Med. 2025 Feb 12; 81(12):632-634. PMID: 39730200.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 12/11/2024

    Stowell JD, Sue Wing I, Romitti Y, Kinney PL, Wellenius GA. Emergency department visits in California associated with wildfire PM2.5: differing risk across individuals and communities. Environ Res Health. 2025 Mar 01; 3(1):015002. PMID: 39670153.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 12/1/2024

    Jaganathan S, Stafoggia M, Rajiva A, Mandal S, Dixit S, de Bont J, Wellenius GA, Lane KJ, Nori-Sarma A, Kloog I, Prabhakaran D, Prabhakaran P, Schwartz J, Ljungman P. Estimating the effect of annual PM2·5 exposure on mortality in India: a difference-in-differences approach. Lancet Planet Health. 2024 Dec; 8(12):e987-e996. PMID: 39674205.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 11/5/2024

    Jaganathan S, Rajiva A, Amini H, de Bont J, Dixit S, Dutta A, Kloog I, Lane KJ, Menon JS, Nori-Sarma A, Prabhakaran D, Schwartz J, Sharma P, Stafoggia M, Walia GK, Wellenius GA, Prabhakaran P, Ljungman P, Mandal S. Nationwide analysis of air pollution hotspots across India: A spatiotemporal PM2.5 trend analysis (2008-2019). Environ Res. 2025 Jan 01; 264(Pt 1):120276. PMID: 39510231.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 11/4/2024

    Lin Z, Weinberger E, Nori-Sarma A, Chinchilla M, Wellenius GA, Jay J. Daily heat and mortality among people experiencing homelessness in 2 urban US counties, 2015-2022. Am J Epidemiol. 2024 Nov 04; 193(11):1576-1582. PMID: 38844692.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 10/28/2024

    Maji KJ, Li Z, Hu Y, Vaidyanathan A, Stowell JD, Milando C, Wellenius G, Kinney PL, Russell AG, Talat Odman M. Prescribed burn related increases of population exposure to PM2.5 and O3 pollution in the southeastern US over 2013-2020. Environ Int. 2024 Nov; 193:109101. PMID: 39509841.

     Read At: PubMed

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