Dr Maryam Makanvand

Profile

I am an environmental epidemiologist with a particular focus on air pollution. My academic foundation was established at the University of Birmingham, where I completed an undergraduate degree in Geography, before specialising with an MSc in Air pollution Management and Control. My master’s research on source apportionment across several sites in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia was awarded the Sir Oliver Lodge Prize for the best dissertation in environmental protection for that class year. I completed my PhD in Air Pollution and health titled “An Investigation into the effects of Long-term and short-term air pollution on health morbidity and mortality in the UK”

My professional career is defined by a unique blend of commercial consultancy and academic research. I have also worked as an Air Quality Consultant, where I gained hands-on experience in field monitoring and dispersion modelling while liaising with local authorities and industry partners. This practical expertise now informs my research into the environmental determinants of health. I also worked as a Senior Research Associate in Epidemiology at the University of Bristol (where I remain as an Honorary reseacher). Here, I worked as part of the LongiTools Consortium, a Horizon European Exposome Project that investigated the environmental determinants of cardiometabolic health across the life-course. I led research, using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) to explore the metabolomic signatures of air pollution across the life-course. I was recently appointed the Global Ambassador in exposome research for the UK by the International Human Exposome Network (IHEN), a role that involves promoting exposome research by applying systems-thinking and big-data integration to global health challenges.

Research interests

My research interests lie at the intersection of air pollution and health and can be broadly categorised into the following areas:

1. Air Quality Modelling and Health Risk
I specialise in the application of advanced statistical methods such as time-series analysis and generalised additive models, to quantify health impacts of ambient pollutants. My research focusses on the evolving toxicity of Particulate Matter (PM) and its chemical components, seeking to determine how varying sources of air pollution contribute to hospital admissions and cause specific mortality. I am also interested in spatial data science, using GIS to visualise exposure-response relationships in ecological or small-area studies for both technical audiences and policymakers.

2. Life-course Environmental Epidemiology and the Human Exposome
A central theme of my research is understanding how cumulative environmental exposures can affect health. This can also include how air pollution, noise and the built environment, shape health from pre-birth through to adulthood, focussing on critical windows of development. My work increasingly adopts an “exposome” perspective studying multiple types of environmental exposures (and their interactions) at the same time and their impact on health.

Qualifications

• PhD. Air pollution and Health, University of Birmingham
• MSc. Air Pollution Management and Control, University of Birmingham
• BA. Geography, University of Birmingham