Internal Advisory Board
The IAB is composed of key academic research leaders across Emory University that strongly support the continued growth of climate change and health (CCH) research. The IAB advises the Director and will be consulted on strategic directions and significant changes in Center procedures, structure, components, membership, and fund allocations.
- Dr. Dani Fallin is the James W. Curran Dean of Public Health at the Rollins School of Public Health. She is globally recognized for her work on how environment, behaviors, genetic variation, and epigenetic variation contribute to risk for psychiatric disease, particularly autism. She was the founding director of the Wendy Klag Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She led the Maryland site of the Study to Explore Early Development (SEED) and of the Early Autism Risk Longitudinal Investigation (EARLI) for over a decade. As a strong supporter and passionate advocate of CCH research and capacity building, she will provide institutional support and guidance on aligning the mission of the CHART Center with RSPH’s strategic plan.
- Dr. Carmen Marsit is the Rollins Distinguished Professor of Research, a Professor of Environmental Health and Epidemiology and the Executive Associate Dean for Research in the Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH). Dr. Marsit will continue to provide thoughtful guidance on community-engaged research and implementation resources. He directs the NIH P30 HERCULES Exposome Research Center and the NIEHS T32 Training Program in the Environmental Health Sciences and Toxicology at Emory. He has particular expertise in environmental health and a strong commitment to the training of next-generation researchers, particularly those from under-represented backgrounds. As a highly skillful research administrator, Dr. Marsit will help strengthen and grow collaborations between CHART and HERCULES and advise on the administration and growth of the Center.
- Dr. Linda McCauley is Dean of the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, on the governing council of the National Academy of Medicine, and previously served on the National Advisory Council to NIEHS. Dr. McCauley’s research focuses on the intersection of environmental and occupational health and nursing using community engagement. She is globally recognized for her three decades of environmental and occupational health research. In the last decade, she has been studying the effects of climate change and heat exposure in vulnerable populations including reproductive health in Florida farmworkers exposed to pesticides, heat, and musculoskeletal stress. Dr. McCauley has been a strong supporter of Emory’s climate change research and has worked closely with many RSPH faculty members on climate change related projects and grant proposals. She will help coordinate CCH research in the School of Nursing and RSPH.
- Dr. Deborah Bruner is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor in Nursing and a member of the National Academy of Medicine. As Emory’s Senior Vice President For Research, Dr. Bruner oversees research support, training, innovation, and commercialization services and resources across the entire Emory enterprise. In particular, Dr. Bruner has played a pivotal role in establishing the Provost’s Emory Climate Research Initiative (ECRI) in 2022 led by CHART Center Director Dr. Liu with representatives from all academic units of Emory including RSPH, Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Law, Business, Theology, as well as Emory College of Arts and Sciences and the Oxford College. She will facilitate interdisciplinary research conducted at the CHART center, including breaking down institutional and cultural barriers to encourage opportunities for transdisciplinary collaboration through academic activities.
External Advisory Board
CHART EAB members represent the diverse areas of expertise in Climate Change and Health, have a strong foundation of climate and atmospheric sciences and science translation, as well as extensive experiences in managing research programs.
- Dr. Patrick Kinney (EAB Chair) is the Beverly A. Brown Professor of Urban Health at Boston University School of Public Health. His research interests include exposure assessment, indoor and outdoor air pollution epidemiology, climate risk factors on health such as heat exposure, and the health benefits of carbon emission reduction strategies in cities, including those related to greenspace and non-motorized transport infrastructure in both domestic and international settings. He was the lead author of IPCC AR5 Chapter 26: North America and is a current member of US EPA’s Board of Scientific Counselors Air, Climate and Energy Committee. He was the founding director of the Climate and Health Program at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, where he also served as the Principal Investigator of a NIEHS T32 training grant in climate and health. Currently, Dr. Kinney co-directs the Urban Climate Initiative at Boston University.
- Dr. Marshall Shepherd is the Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Geography and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Georgia. His research focuses primarily on hydrometeorological extremes, urban climate, and the intersections of atmospheric sciences with society. He uses remote sensing, weather-climate modeling, and risk-vulnerability approaches to address challenges such as heat, urban flooding, energy-food-water nexus, weather-climate risk, and communication-warnings. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Shepherd was the 2013 President of American Meteorological Society (AMS), the nation’s largest and oldest professional/science society in the natural and related sciences. He is also an expert in science communication and the host of The Weather Channel’s Award-Winning Sunday talk show Weather Geeks, a pioneering Sunday talk show on national television dedicated to science. Dr. Shepherd will advise on center communication and expanding collaboration with UGA.
- Dr. Armistead (Ted) Russell is the Howard T. Tellepsen Chair and Regents Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Russell’s research is aimed at approaches to improve air quality and health, develop novel technologies to remove pollutants – including carbon dioxide – from emissions and develop advanced modeling methods to tackle environmental problems. Through this work, he has collaborated extensively with GDEH faculty. Dr. Russell was a member of EPA’s Clean Air Science Advisory Committee (CASAC) and a member of the National Research Council’s Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, and he continues to serve on associated committees. He chaired EPA’s CASAC NOx-SOx, Secondary NAAQS review panel, the Ambient Air Monitoring Methods Subcommittee, and the Council on Clean Air Compliance Analysis’ Air Quality Modeling Subcommittee and was on the Health Effects Institute’s Report Review Committee. Dr. Russell will also advise on expanding CHART collaboration with Georgia Tech.
- Dr. Drew Shindell is the Nicholas Distinguished Professor of Earth Science at Duke University. Dr. Shindell’s research focuses on global climate change, climate variability, air quality, and the interactions of these with human society. He chaired the 2011 UNEP/WMO Integrated Assessment of Black Carbon and Tropospheric Ozone, and was a Coordinating Lead Author on the 2013 Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC and on the 2018 IPCC Special Report on 1.5°C. He is an elected fellow of the American Geophysical Union and a member of US EPA’s Science Advisory Board. As a world-renowned climate scientist, Dr. Shindell will advise on current and emerging climate risk factors, promote research capacity building of health researchers on climate science, as well as serve as the bridge between the geophysical science community and Center Members.
Partner Steering Committee
The PSC’s composition and purpose represent the spectrum of Atlanta’s climate change and health stakeholders, including those most affected by climate impacts and those who provide resources for these issues. This includes neighborhood groups, nonprofits, universities, and government agencies. Spelman College, an Atlanta-based Historically Black College and University (HBCU) and long-term partner with Emory on climate and environmental justice research, is also represented on the PSC.