Dr. Hong Chen

Areas of Expertise

• environmental epidemiology
• environmental exposure assessment
• biostatistics
• environmental exposure assessment using geographic information systems (GIS)

Appointments

Assistant Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

Adjunct Scientist, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences

Academic Degrees and Accreditations

• Doctor of Philosophy (Epidemiology), McGill University
• Master of Science (Management Information Systems), Texas A&M University
• Master of Science (Environmental Sciences), University of Akron

PHO Research Interests

• Understanding the human health effects of exposure to environmental risk factors, particularly ambient air pollution, traffic-related noise, and extreme temperature.
• Methodological development regarding the modelling of health impacts of air pollution, with a focus on developing spatiotemporal models to characterize the spatial and temporal variability of air pollutants.
• Informing policy- and decision-making on actions geared towards achieving environmental exposure reduction and disease prevention.

PHO Research Activities

• Assessing the associations between long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and noise and the development of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
• Investigating the effects of air pollution on the development of major neurodegenerative diseases, especially dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis.
• Quantifying the health burden of ambient temperatures on mortality and morbidity.
• Examining the effects of environmental exposures on the long-term survival and other outcomes of adults living with major chronic diseases.
• Evaluating the public health impacts of environmental health programs, such as smog advisories.

Selected Publications

1. Chen H, Li Q, Kaufman JS, Wang J, Copes R, Su Y,et al. Effect of air quality alerts on human health: a regression discontinuity analysis. Lancet Planet Health, 2018; 2(1):e19-26.
2. Burnett RT, Chen H, Szyszkowicz M, Fann N, Hubbell B, Pope CA 3rd, et al. Global estimates of mortality associated with long-term exposure to outdoor fine particulate matter. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018;115(38):9592-9597.
3. Chen H, Kwong JC, Copes R, Tu K, Villeneuve PJ, van Donkelaar A, et al. Living near major roads and the incidence of dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis: a population-based cohort study. Lancet. 2017;389(10070):718-26.
4. Chen H, Kwong JC, Copes R, Villeneuve PJ, Goldberg MS, Weichenthal S, et al. Cohort profile: the Ontario Population Health and Environment Cohort (ONPHEC). Int J Epidemiol. 2016;46(2):405-j.
5. Chen H, Burnett RT, Kwong JC, Villeneuve PJ, Goldberg MS, Brook RD, et al. Spatial association between ambient fine particulate matter and incident hypertension. Circulation. 2014;129(5):562-9.

View more publications by Dr. Hong Chen on PubMed.gov