Global Public Health Research
Faculty in the Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good are committed to advancing research and generating new knowledge in a diverse range of fields. Students are invited to participate in this research and to become involved in projects of significant importance to modern societies.
Areas of major research interest within the program are:
- The spread of pandemics,
- Nutrition and health.
- Health impacts of pollution and climate change, and
- The ethical and legal foundations of public health
Learn about Air Quality Index in Massachusetts
Boston College established the Global Observatory on Planetary Health in 2018 to track the impacts of pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss on human health and to develop science-based solutions. Researchers in the Observatory are currently examining the impacts of pollution and climate change on children’s health, heart disease, cancer, and ocean health; studying the health hazards of plastics across their entire life cycle; elucidating pesticides’ impacts on children’s health; and developing options for reform of national and international chemical policy. The Observatory is an interdisciplinary collaboration whose members are drawn from schools and departments across Boston College.
The work of the Global Observatory on Planetary Health is inspired and guided by Pope Francis’ teaching in his encyclical letter, Laudato Si’, calling on all of us to care for our planet - our Common Home, end social and economic injustice, and prevent the disease, disability and premature death that fall disproportionately upon the poor.
The Observatory is deeply committed to communication. We develop and publish carefully curated science-driven reports and recommendations to guide international agencies and the leaders of cities, states, and countries in preventing pollution, mitigating climate change, improving health and advancing the common good. We engage extensively with the media, and we work to educate and inform the public about environmental hazards and their health impacts. Our recent reports have examined Plastics and Human Health; Air Pollution in Massachusetts; Air Pollution in India; Air Pollution and Economic Development in Africa; The Human Health Benefits of Climate Mitigation, Pollution Prevention, and Preservation of Biological Diversity; and Human Health and Ocean Pollution. We produce editorials and commentaries that have appeared in The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, The Boston Globe and The New York Times. These reports are already influencing health, energy and environment policy within the United States and internationally.
The Observatory continues the work of the Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health, co-led by Observatory Director Dr. Philip Landrigan. The Lancet Commission found that pollution is the world’s largest environmental cause of disease and death , responsible for an estimated 9 million premature deaths each year. It reported additionally that pollution can be prevented and that pollution prevention safeguards health, saves lives, slows the pace of climate change and preserves biological diversity.
To advance its work, the Observatory has established formal partnerships with UN Environment and the Centre Scientifique de Monaco. Its work is supported by UN Environment, the Minderoo Foundation, the Centre Scientifique de Monaco, the Barr Foundation, the Owsley Brown II Family Foundation, the A-Team Foundation and the Heinz Endowments.
In all of its work, the Observatory trains and mentors fellows and students, building professional capacity in planetary health for future generations.
Research Studies
Early-life exposure to fine particulate (PM 2.5) air pollution reduces IQ in children. The greater the exposure, the more severe is the reduction in IQ. Using pooled data from 4,860 children representing socially and geographically diverse populations in North America, Asia, and Europe, we identified significant declines in three measures of cognitive function in children exposed to fine particulate (PM 2.5 ) air pollution. The strongest reduction was in Performance IQ (PIQ), a measure of fluid intelligence and critical reasoning. Children lose 0.39 PIQ points with each 1 µg/m³ increase in PM 2.5 concentration. These effects are seen even at very low levels of air pollution exposure and they become greater at higher levels of exposure.
Read the report with Boston College contributors Naomi C. Alter, Ella M. Whitman, and Philip J. Landrigan, MD, MSc, published in Environmental Health:
https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-024-01122-x
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the principal causes of illness and death in children today. Their incidence and prevalence are on the rise. Emerging research links multiple NCDs in children to manufactured synthetic chemicals. Yet manufacture of synthetic chemicals and plastics is subject to few legal or policy constraints. Unlike pharmaceuticals, synthetic chemicals are brought to market with little prior assessment of their hazard and almost no postmarketing surveillance for longer-term adverse health effects. Fewer than 20% have been tested for toxicity, and fewer still for toxic effects in infants and children. Associations between widely used chemicals and disease in children continue to be discovered with distressing frequency, and it is likely that there are additional, still unknown links. Protecting children from chemicals’ dangers will require a fundamental revamping of current law and restructuring of the chemical industry to prioritize children’s health.
Read the report with eight Boston College contributors of the Consortium for Children’s Environmental Health: Philip J. Landrigan, M.D., David A. Wirth, J.D., Caroline Bald, B.S., Thomas C. Chiles, Ph.D., Carly Griffin, B.S. Kurt Straif, M.D., Ph.D., Ella M. Whitman, B.A., and Aroub Yousuf, B.A., published in the New England Journal of Medicine
The Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health undertook a comprehensive analysis of plastics’ impacts on human health across the plastic life cycle. It examined direct health impacts, including those caused by chemicals used in plastics, as well as indirect health effects mediated through plastics’ damage to the terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. The report estimated plastics’ health-related economic costs and constructed a framework to support further expansion of these economic analyses. It considered the ethical and moral implications of the unending production, consumption, and disposal of plastics, which fall disproportionately on the poor and disadvantaged, especially in the Global South. Finally, the report identified knowledge gaps and research needs.
The Commission found that plastics are responsible for disease, disability and premature death at every stage of their life cycle. Plastic production is an important contributor to climate change, releasing more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere each year than Brazil. Plastic is a major source of pollution, and plastic waste contaminates every corner of the planet. The main driver of plastics’ worsening harms is exponential increase in production of new plastic. To confront the global plastic crisis and save lives, we have advocated for a strong and legally binding Global Plastics Treaty, and we have argued that the centerpiece of this treaty must be a global cap on plastic production.
Read the study in a Special Collection in Annals of Global Health:
Boston College contributors include: Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, Caroline Bald, ThomasC. Chiles, Carly Griffin, Hannah Ianelli, Jenna Mu, Andrea Vicini, Ella Whitman, David Wirth, Aroub Yousuf
Since publication of the Minderoo Monaco report on Plastics and Human Health, we have been working to strengthen the UN Global Plastics Treaty to ensure that it protects human health, especially for vulnerable populations. Our publications in this area include:
Landrigan PJ, Symeonides C, Mustapha A, Raps H, Dunlop S. The Global Plastics Treaty. Why Is It needed? Lancet, 2023 Oct 17: S0140-6736(23)02198-0. doi: 10.1016/S0140- 6736(23)02198-0
Landrigan PJ. Plastics, fossil carbon and the heart. New Engl J Med 2024; 390:10. doi:10.1056/NEJMe2400683
A healthy ocean is essential for human health. However, the ocean is under threat from climate change, pollution, sea surface warming and ocean acidification. If humanity is to continue to benefit from the ocean we must address global threats to the ocean such as climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss through equitable partnerships, rigorous enforcement of laws and treaties, robust monitoring, and metrics that evaluate both the ocean’s natural capital and human well-being. This endeavor must explicitly prioritize human rights, equity, sustainability, and social justice.
Read the study, with Boston College contributors Dr. Philip J. Landrigan and Ella Whitman, here:
https://annalsofglobalhealth.org/articles/10.5334/aogh.4471
However far we live from the sea, a healthy ocean is fundamental to human health— from sourcing critical medication and nutritious diets to providing new medicines and space for beneficial physical activity. The newest Ocean Panel commissioned Blue Paper focuses on the links between the ocean and human health. It explores how we cannot have one without the other.
Read the report with Boston College contributors Dr. Philip J. Landrigan and Ella Whitman, here:
https://oceanpanel.org/publications/ocean-human-health/
In the latest report, "Children's Health and the Ocean: a vital connection", we describe the unequivocal yet often overlooked link between the ocean and children's wellbeing, through the lens of planetary health. We emphasize the critical role healthcare professionals can play, as trusted advocates, in promoting evidence-based policies that prioritize the voices of vulnerable communities to sustainably protect pediatric and population health.
Read the report with Boston College contributors Dr. Philip J. Landrigan and Ella Whitman, here:
Ocean pollution is a critically important, but insufficiently recognized and inadequately controlled component of global pollution. Its major drivers are fossil fuel combustion, reckless increases in the production of plastics and chemicals, and runaway coastal development. Its impacts are magnified by climate change, sea surface warming and ocean acidification. It destroys marine ecosystems, impedes the production of oxygen for the earth's atmosphere, and threatens human health.
The impacts of ocean pollution fall disproportionately on people in small island nations, indigenous communities, coastal communities in the Global South, and fishing communities worldwide. These are populations that create only miniscule amounts of pollution. Most of the pollution to which they are exposed arises from sources far away - environmental injustice on a global scale.
Ocean pollution, like all forms of pollution can be controlled and prevented. Land- based sources are responsible for 80% of ocean pollution, and control of releases from these sources is therefore key. Prevention of ocean pollution is highly cost- effective. It boosts economies, increases tourism, helps restore fisheries, advances the Sustainable Development Goals, slows climate change, and improves human health. These benefits will last for centuries.
The goals of our study of Human Health and Ocean Pollution are to: (1) broadly examine the known and potential impacts of ocean pollution on human health; (2) inform policy makers, government leaders, international organizations, civil society, and the global public of these threats; and (3) catalyze interventions to control and prevent pollution of the seas and safeguard human health.
Read the report with Boston College contributors: Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, Samantha Fisher, Jenna Mu, Christopher Reddy, Hariharan Shanmugam and Gabriella Taghian here:
https://annalsofglobalhealth.org/articles/10.5334/aogh.2831/
Air pollution is a silent killer in Massachusetts, responsible for an estimated 2,780 premature deaths each year and for the loss of over 2 million IQ points in children according to researchers in the Global Observatory on Planetary Health. To guide statewide and local actions to control air pollution and prevent disease, we conducted the first ever study of air pollution’s health impacts in each city and town across the state.
“We are talking about the impacts of air pollution at a very local level in Massachusetts – not just statewide,” said lead author Boston College Professor of Biology Philip J. Landrigan, MD, director of the Observatory. “This report gives the people in every city and town the opportunity to see for themselves the quality of the air they and their families are breathing and the dangerous health implications for both adults and children as a consequence of air pollution.
Review the full study with Boston College contributors Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, Samantha Fisher, Brittney Gedeon, Luke Bryan and Jenna Mu titled "A replicable strategy for mapping air pollution’s community-level health impacts and catalyzing prevention" in Environmental Health.
https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-022-00879-3
A web-based application was developed by the Observatory and offers a searchable database for air pollution impacts in each of the state’s 351 cities and towns. Check it out here:
Air pollution was responsible for 1.1 million deaths across Africa in 2019, and ambient air pollution is rapidly worsening. In the absence of deliberate intervention, ambient air pollution will increase disease and death, diminish economic productivity, reduce children’s intelligence, and undercut economic development.
Additionally, air pollution is costing African countries billions of dollars in gross domestic product and is correlated with to a devastating loss in the intellectual development of Africa’s children. In the first continent-wide examination of the far- reaching impacts of air pollution in Africa, Global Observatory researchers found that while deaths from household air pollution have declined slightly, deaths caused by outdoor, or ambient, air pollution are on the rise.
Because most African countries are still early in development, they have a unique window of opportunity to invest in renewable energy, avoid pollution caused by fossil fuels, save lives, and sustainably grow their economies.
Read the report with Boston College contributors: Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, Samantha Fisher and Gabriella Taghian here:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00201-1/fulltext
Impacts on Human Health, the Economy and Human Capital
Air pollution in India is a major cause of disease, death, and shortened life expectancy. It was responsible in 2017 for an estimated 1.24 million premature deaths. Air pollution in India also causes great economic losses and it impairs children’s health and reduces their intelligence thus diminishing India’s human capital and potential for future development.
The goal of this multinational, multi-institutional study was to bring together the most recent information on the disease burden, economic costs and human capital losses attributable to air pollution in India in order to guide pollution prevention nationally and in each of India’s states.
The study was launched at Boston College in October 2018. A major working meeting of the Study Team and Study Advisory Group was held in New Delhi, India on July 17-18, 2019. The study was published in The Lancet Planetary Health in December 2020 titled “Health and economic impact of air pollution in the states of India: the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019”.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2542519620302989?via%3Dihub
This study received support from UN Environment.
This study included Boston College contributors Thomas C. Chiles, Samantha Fisher, Praveen Kumar, Gabrielle Taghian, Gautam N Yadama, and Philip J. Landrigan.
Landrigan, Philip J., et al. “Assessing the Human Health Benefits of Climate Mitigation, Pollution Prevention, and Biodiversity Preservation.” Annals of Global Health, 5 Jan. 2024, annalsofglobalhealth.org/articles/10.5334/aogh.4161.
Taghian, G., Fisher, S., Chiles, T.C., Binagwaho, A. and Landrigan, P., 2024. The Burden of Cardiovascular Disease from Air Pollution in Rwanda. Annals of Global Health, 90(1), p.2.DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/aogh.4322.
Bryan, Luke, and Philip Landrigan. PM2.5 Pollution in Texas: A Geospatial Analysis of Health Impact Functions. Frontiers, November 13, 2023, www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1286755/full.
Landrigan P, Symeonides C, Raps H, Dunlop S. The global plastics treaty: why is it needed? Lancet. 2023 Oct 17:S0140-6736(23)02198-0. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)02198-0. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37863083.
Rajagopalan S, Landrigan PJ. The Inflation Reduction Act - implications for climate change, air pollution, and health. Lancet Reg Health Am. 2023 Jun 10;23:100522. doi: 10.1016/j.lana.2023.100522. PMID: 37333687; PMCID: PMC10276136.
Landrigan PJ, Bellinger DC. It’s time to end lead poisoning in America. JAMA Pediatrics, September 27, 2021. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.3525
Fisher S, Bellinger DC, Cropper ML, Kumar P, Binagwaho A, Koudenoukpo JB, Park Y, Taghian G, Landrigan PJ. Air Pollution and Development in Africa: Impacts on Health, the Economy and Human Capital. Lancet Planetary Health, 2021; 5: e681–88 doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00201-1
Binagwaho A, Laborde A, Landrigan PJ. Safeguarding children's health in a changing global environment. Lancet. 2022 Oct 8;400(10359):1176-1178. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(22)01797-4. Epub 2022 Sep 21. PMID: 36152669.
Rajagopalan S, Landrigan PJ. Pollution and the heart. New England Journal of Medicine, 2021 11;385 (20):1881-1892. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra2030281.
McGlade J, Landrigan PJ. Why Ocean Pollution is a Clear Danger to Human Health. The Conversation UK, February 1, 2021. https://theconversation.com/why-ocean-pollution-is-a-clear-danger-to-human-health-152641
Landrigan PJ, Bernstein A. Epidemiology, Economics and the Path to Clean Energy. (Invited editorial) International J Epidemiology 2020. 49: 1896–1898, doi: 10.1093/ije/dyaa224
Shaffer RM, Sellers SP, Baker MG, Kalman Rd B, Frostad J, Suter MK, Anenberg SC, BalbusJ, Bellinger DC, Birnbaum L, Brauer M, Cohen A, Ebi KL, Fuller R, Grandjean P, Hess JJ, Landrigan PJ, Lanphear B, London SJ, Rooney AA, Stanaway JD Trasande L, Walker K, Hu H. Improving and Expanding Estimates of the Global Burden of Disease due to Environmental Health Risk Factors. Environ Health Perspect 2019 doi.org/10.1289/ehp5496
Landrigan PJ. The health and economic benefits of climate mitigation and pollution control. Lancet Planet Health. 2018 Mar; 2 (3):e107-e108. doi: 10.1016/S2542-5196(18)30008-1.