The new interdisciplinary research group on Climate Change and Health will study the impacts of climate change on health, including the effects of temperature, urban heat island, extreme weather events, air pollution and vector-borne diseases on several health outcomes in Switzerland and overseas. Research activities and output of the group will be mainly focused on the assessment of potential adaptation and mitigation strategies, and their translation into health impact projections. A novel research line will also address the etiological mechanisms explaining the association between heat and specific health outcomes, such as cardiometabolic diseases.
The research group is led by Ana M. Vicedo-Cabrera, an environmental epidemiologist with expertise in studies on temperature-related health impacts, air pollution effects and development of epidemiological methods. She has previously worked at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel, and more recently as Assistant Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The group is also part of the Oeschger Center for Climate Change Research of the University of Bern. It will help bridging the gap between epidemiology and public health and climate sciences, and will provide an excellent platform for collaboration between different disciplines working on climate change research.
