Thomas Clasen
Emory University, GA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Nearly 3 billion people still cook with solid fuels such as wood, charcoal, coal and animal dung, mostly in low- and middle-income countries. The smoke from these fires is estimated to cause 2.3 million early deaths each year, along with much other illness.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Earth & Environmental Science
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
household air pollution
liquefied petroleum gas
clean cooking
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2027
What they work on
- Test whether the HAPIN LPG stove and fuel intervention, given during pregnancy and the first year of life, has lasting benefits for neurological and physical development in children followed to age 5 in Guatemala, India and Rwanda.
- Continue to measure children's personal exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and black carbon after the intervention ended at age 1, as families take up different fuels and cooking practices.
- Relate PM2.5 and black carbon exposure during key periods of pregnancy and early childhood to child development, testing the hypothesis that higher exposure goes with poorer outcomes.
More about the research
It is also a source of gases that warm the climate. Exposure during pregnancy and early childhood may affect health for years. An open question is whether cleaner cooking early in life brings benefits that last after the clean stove is no longer provided.
Why it matters
The findings could guide health, energy, environmental and climate policy in low- and middle-income countries, where billions of people cook over smoky fires. By showing whether a clean LPG stove during pregnancy and infancy improves children's brain and physical development through age 5, the work could inform decisions about clean cooking programs. Child development is linked to later schooling, productivity and health.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Sima Ramratnam
University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI·Medicine & Clinical Research·Early-career
Identify genes associated with preschool-onset asthma, which begins before age four, through a candidate gene association study.
John Volckens
Colorado State University-Fort Collins, CO·Public Health & Epidemiology
Deploy a low-cost national air sampling network and analyze PM2.5 samples for trace metals and oxidative potential, the particles' ability to promote oxidative stress in cells.
Meredith McCormack
Johns Hopkins University, MD·Public Health & Epidemiology
Determine how bedroom air quality, allergens such as mouse allergen, and microbes such as Staphylococcus aureus relate to objectively measured sleep quality in low-income children with asthma in Baltimore City.
The school
Emory University: 70 labs on PI Pages, $1.2B a year on research, 286 research doctorates a year.
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