Kirsten

Koehler

,

PhD

As a Professor in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health my goals are to improve exposure assessment methods to inform occupational and environmental public health policy. My research goals involve the use of direct-reading instrumentation to improve spatiotemporal exposure assessment. Direct-reading (i.e. “real-time”) monitors can rapidly assess exposures to various hazards. Rapidly advancing sensor technology is making these devices more affordable and providing data with increasing accuracy and precision. This work began through my Career Development Award (K01), which involved coupling measured concentrations with a known location to identify occupational sources of these hazards. Contour plots of the hazard concentration over space, known as concentration maps, were used to assess the spatial variability of hazards. Concentration maps have the potential to be powerful because they are easily comprehensible for workers, managers, and occupational/environmental health scientists to locate areas of concern. In a NIOSH-funded R01 (Koehler, MPI), we used low-cost sensors to continuously monitor and map exposures in a workplace to evaluate exposure variability and predict personal exposures. In the ambient environment, I was a PI of a project within an EPA-funded SEARCH Center in which we have deployed a low-cost sensor network in Baltimore and are assessing how energy related factors impact neighborhood level variability in concentrations. While I believe there is great potential for direct-reading instruments to aid in the identification of exposure hazards, particularly as the cost of these sensors decreases, it is critical to understanding the uncertainties associated with this new form of exposure assessment. My continuing research interests include investigating sources of uncertainty, variability in pollutant concentrations over time and space, and the ability of these networks to address environmental justice concerns. 

I am also interested in evaluating novel metrics of air pollution exposure. As the PI of a project within a NIEHS-funded Children’s Center, we investigated how variability in ultrafine particulate exposures are related to disease exacerbations among a cohort of asthmatic children. Although ultrafine particles are known to contain higher proportions of toxic components, little is known about personal exposures to ultrafine particles. The lack of information is due to both the cost of their measurement and the lack of an ultrafine particulate standard in the US. I also lead the exposure assessment team for a number of studies evaluating how indoor air pollution can exacerbate asthma and COPD in Baltimore City residents. 

Finally, my future research will also consider the role of climate change in increasing air pollution and extreme heat exposures in urban areas, the associated health impacts, and possible mitigation strategies. This work includes an ongoing study evaluating the efficacy of a cool roof renovation to improve indoor environmental quality and whether there are associated improvements in sleep, respiratory health, or quality of life.