About

I study the health benefits of climate policy and the health impacts of the energy system. That’s been the focus of my research ever since I wrote what ended up being one of the first health co-benefit studies, which looked at how constructing more renewable energy and making electricity use more efficient - something often thought of as only a climate solution - can also improve public health.

I’ve been thinking about climate change since I was a kid. When James Hansen testified to the Senate about climate change in 1988, I remember reading about it in the newspaper and asking my parents whether it would affect clouds and whether more clouds would reflect sun back to space. I can’t remember a time when climate change wasn’t on my mind, and it hasn’t stopped since.

I started college as a civil and environmental engineering major but switched halfway through to environmental science and policy. I took classes in environmental law and economics, which made me want to become an environmental lawyer or work in climate economics. But after taking a course in risk assessment and toxicology, I decided to pursue that field instead. I went to graduate school at Harvard and did a lot of work with air pollution.

Sometime between graduating with my master’s and starting my doctoral program, one of the major Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports came out, warning that climate change is worsening. I thought, “I’ve got to figure out some way to work on this.” I began a project on the health and environmental impacts of coal across the supply chain. While doing that, I came across early papers on carbon pricing and how renewable energy could cut greenhouse gas emissions in the electric sector. I also found several life cycle assessments (LCAs) on the environmental impact from coal, gas, wind, etc., and they clearly showed renewables are better, no matter what you measure.

But those LCAs weren’t based on real renewable projects on real grids. And the carbon pricing studies weren’t considering health. I thought, “This sounds like a fun dissertation.” So I did it – and I’ve been doing this work ever since.

BU Highlights

Much of my research now focuses on the health impacts of oil and gas extraction and the health benefits of deploying renewable energy and building electrification across different locations in the U.S.

I’m researching the health benefits of zero-emissions appliance standards - policies that require stoves, furnaces, dryers, and other appliances in homes to produce zero emissions.

I’m also conducting a health and climate impact assessment of a geothermal district in Framingham in collaboration with HEET - a Boston-based nonprofit that aims to drive ethical and efficient thermal energy transitions. This district has been running for about a year, and BU has been supporting HEET’s work through research and data collection to help identify equitable pathways to deploy similar projects statewide.

I’m part of BU’s Climate Action Plan (CAP) 1.2 Working Group, which is developing recommendations to more effectively reduce the university’s operational and embodied emissions. My role is to help BU evaluate the health benefits of the actions we take to meet our climate goals.

Beyond BU

I’m involved in the Clean Energy and Environment Legacy Transition (CELT) initiative, a partnership with the state and UMass Lowell. Our mission is to advance an equitable energy transition in Massachusetts. We focus on data analysis and making essential data accessible and usable for decision-making around clean energy transitions.

Advice for BU Students

For public health students, I recommend engaging with the energy system. Around 20% of all deaths are linked to air pollution, and about 75% of greenhouse gas emissions come from the energy sector. These drive climate change, widely considered the #1 global public health threat of the 21st century. Reducing these emissions is primary prevention, and that means changing the energy system.

For students focused on energy or climate, there’s an emerging pool of excellent resources - energy podcasts, crash courses, and tools to stay current on policy, technology, and what the administration is doing. And remember: if your work affects greenhouse gas emissions, you’re likely also affecting air pollution. Somebody cares. Talk about it.