My research focuses on lung diseases, including environmental lung disease, tuberculosis (TB), TB/HIV, early detection of lung cancer, and policy related to air pollution and climate change.
A particular area of interest is the role of alveolar macrophages (AMs) in environmental lung disease. In the lower respiratory tract, AMs phagocytose inorganic particles and microorganisms, playing an important role in host defense. AMs also respond to and direct inflammatory and fibrotic processes via a complex array of intracellular machinery.
My most recent research is on “global heating”—a term that has supplanted “global warming” and “climate change” in describing the global health effects of a hot planet. As part of the NYU School of Global Public Health, I investigate the public health effects of air pollution, biomass cooking, heat waves, increased storms, and droughts. Based on current U.S. policies, mortality is expected to increase eightfold during the period 2050–2100. Wind, solar, and battery storage are possible pathways for averting this rise in death rates by reducing carbon dioxide emissions.