November 07, 2022
Through her research on air pollution, Rima Habre, Sc.D., of the University of Southern California (USC), wants to learn exactly what pollutants are in the air, their quantities, and whether exposures to such contaminants can be linked to health effects.
Habre leads exposure assessment work at the USC Maternal and Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social Stressors (MADRES) Center for Environmental Health Disparities. There, researchers are disentangling the effects of air pollution, wildfires, the built environment, and social stressors on maternal and child health.
“Much of my work focuses on monitoring and modeling individual exposure among pregnant women and their children,” Habre explained. “It’s really important to capture neighborhood air pollution and even what’s in a person’s home — what they are immediately breathing — because it will often have a much more direct impact on their health than background air pollution.”