Upcoming and Recent Events

Heather Adair-Rohani is the air quality and health acting unit head and technical lead on energy and health at the World Health Organization Headquarters working to enhance the evidence for policymakers and to build country capacity to address air pollution, energy access and related health impacts.  In this role, she has led the establishment of the Health and Energy Platform of Action, and the High-level Coalition on Health and Energy. Ms. Adair-Rohani co-led the secretariat for the WHO guidelines for indoor air quality: household fuel combustion and is currently overseeing the work to support countries to implement the Guidelines through the Clean Household Energy Solutions Toolkit.  She represents WHO within the context of inter-agency groups such as UN Energy and the SDG 7 TAG and coordinates WHO’s official SDG 7 reporting on clean cooking.

G. Ekin Atilla-Gokcumen, Ph.D., is the Marjorie Winkler Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. Her research sits at the interface of chemistry and biology, with a strong focus on understanding how lipid metabolism and composition contribute to fundamental cellular processes. She is particularly interested in how changes in specific lipid species regulate cell death, senescence, and responses to environmental challenges, including emerging toxicants such as PFAS. Dr. Atilla-Gokcumen’s lab employs a multidisciplinary approach that integrates chemical biology, mass spectrometry-based lipidomics, and cell biology to dissect the molecular mechanisms by which lipids influence cell fate. Her team has made significant contributions to understanding how dynamic lipid alterations impact membrane function, signaling pathways, and organelle communication during stress responses. More recently, her research has expanded to include how environmental exposures perturb lipid signaling and contribute to neurotoxicity and other pathophysiological outcomes. Her work has been supported by the NIH, NSF, and DoD.

Kang Sun is an associate professor of Environmental Engineering at UB. He received his B.S. in Environmental Sciences from Peking University in Beijing, China and a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Princeton University in Princeton, NJ. He worked as a physicist at Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory before joining UB in 2018. His research focuses on the chemistry and physics of the Earth’s atmosphere and their implications for air quality, public health, and the climate.

Chris Murawski (he/his) has been leading the efforts of organizing for environmental justice and improving public health within disadvantaged communities in Western NY with Clean Air since 2021. Previously he has worked at Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper, serving as the Director of Community Engagement and has over 15 years of experience in the environmental non profit field. In the community Chris serves as a founding board member of the Friends of Freedom Park, and sits on the advisory board for the Center for Occupational Health and Medicine. He has graduated from the organizing training from the Midwest Academy and the Anne Braden Anti-racist Organizing Program and has a BA in Biology from SUNY Buffalo State College.

Harshita Sharma is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health at the University at Buffalo’s School of Public Health and Health Professions. Her research focuses on environmental epidemiology and maternal-child health, with a particular interest in the associations between environmental extremes, such as wildfires, and birth and pregnancy outcomes.

I’m Mindula Wijayahena, a 5th-year Ph.D. student at the Department of Chemistry, University at Buffalo, specializing in Environmental Analytical Chemistry. I’m pursuing my Ph.D. under the guidance of Dr. Diana S. Aga. My research focuses on the microbial degradation of PFAS (Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances) and the development of advanced sample extraction techniques for complex human blood matrices and fish to analyze PFAS and their isomers. I utilize various analytical instruments, including combustion ion chromatography (CIC), liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), and liquid chromatography coupled to ion mobility separation with time-of-flight (LC-IMS/QToF) in my work.

Chan Li is a third-year Ph.D. student in Epidemiology at the University at Buffalo. He earned his B.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences (2018), M.P.H. in Biostatistics (2020), and M.S. in Epidemiology (2022), all from the University at Buffalo. During his graduate training, he interned with the Erie County Department of Health’s Opioid Task Force, where he conducted descriptive analyses of opioid-related overdose trends.

His master’s research and ongoing doctoral work focus on prenatal health, children’s health, environmental health, with additional interests in inflammatory biomarkers. Chan has authored five peer-reviewed publications and has two more under review. He is a selected speaker for ISEE 2024 in Chile and a recipient of both the Saxon Graham Research Award and the O’Shea Travel Award.

Chan has contributed to the development of risk prediction models for low birth weight based on maternal exposures and adverse pregnancy outcomes. He has also used data from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) to examine birth weight, adverse pregnancy outcomes, hypertension, and inflammatory biomarkers in the context of women’s health. His recent work explores how per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) relate to biomarkers of inflammation and oxidative stress among U.S. adolescents. Currently, he is collaborating with Dr. Lina Mu on primary data collection about women’s health outcomes and a pilot study focused on environmental health.

Drawing on the knowledge and skills he continues to gain through his Ph.D. journey, Chan applies his background in biostatistics, epidemiology, and public health to support and conduct research that advances women’s and children’s health.

Yifei He is a PhD student in the Department of Communication, UB. His research focuses on risk communication, environmental communication, information processing, and media psychology. He utilizes multiple quantitative methods in his studies (including survey, experiment, and computational methods). Currently, his research applying social behavioral science aims to explore how to arouse the public’s concern about environment issues and encourage their pro-environment behaviors (for instance, improving recycling and climate change communication). In leisure time, he loves running and playing Texas hold’em poker.