People

Core Faculty

Dr. Michael Brauer is a Professor in the School of Population and Public Health at The University of British Columbia and an Affiliate Professor and Principal Research Scientist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, where he leads the Environmental Risk Factors team for the Global Burden of Disease. His research focuses on linkages between the built environment and human health, with specific interest in transportation-related and biomass air pollution, the global health impacts of air pollution and the relationships between multiple exposures mediated by urban form and population health. He has participated in monitoring and epidemiological studies throughout the world and served on numerous committees, including those advising the World Health Organization, the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, the World Heart Federation, the US National Academies, the Royal Society of Canada, the International Joint Commission and governments in North America and Asia.  His contributions to environmental health have been acknowledged by a number of career achievement and publication awards.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Ingrid Jarvis is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Population and Public Health at UBC. Ingrid obtained her PhD in Forestry from UBC, where she completed a CIHR-funded dissertation on the relationship between urban green space and human health across the life course. Her current research investigates the influence of built environment factors on human health, with a specific focus early childhood development and healthy aging.

Graduate Students

Emily Gemmell is a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia’s School of Population and Public Health. With a clinical and qualitative background in maternal and child health, her current research investigates urban environmental influences on child health behaviours and assessment of children’s equitable access to playable space in cities. Emily is developing an evidence-based, geospatial metric to assess neighbourhood playability across Canadian cities, and using street-view imagery and computer vision models to understand child and parent perceptions of neighbourhood environments for outdoor play. She is interested in research and policy that considers children’s priorities, maximizing potential for movement, connection with people and nature, and joy in everyday environments, in order to advance urban health, equity and environmental sustainability.

Svetlana Zdero is a Master’s student at the School of Population and Public Health. Her thesis investigates the link between ambient fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) and symptoms of depression in a global cohort of adults. She is broadly interested in the global health impacts of environmental hazards driven by climate change.

Alexi is a second-year MSc student in Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. He obtained a BA and an MA in sociology and anthropology and worked in both academic and non-governmental organizations prior to his current studies at UBC. His research interests include environmental epidemiology, quantitative methods, mixed methods, spatial analysis, and climate change and health. His master’s thesis focuses on mortality, hospitalization, and emergency department visits associated with extreme heat and wildfire smoke in BC, using and testing various exposure assessment approaches.