Shao Lin

Dr. Shao Lin is a Professor and Chair of Environmental Health Sciences, College of Integrated Health Sciences, UAlbany, SUNY. Before she became a full-time faculty at UAlbany in 2015, she has served as a Section Chief and Bureau Research Director in the Center for Environmental Health, NYSDOH (1990-2015). She has over 30 years of experience in directing various environmental health studies in assessing health impacts of climate change, extreme weather, air pollution, and natural disasters. She has successfully served as the Principal Investigator for over 30 grants and published 250 scientific papers. Dr. Lin has served in multiple National Climate Workgroups on developing climate change indicators, evaluating current heat-stress definitions, and preparing white papers regarding climate change. She was also invited as the National Expert Panelist by providing advice and recommendations of climate change-health research to the US Congress and the US President. She has served as a standing member in the NIH IRAP and the NIEHS EHS Study Section from 2012-2023.

Sample of activities at UAlbany and NYSDOH:

• Developing the earliest studies on climate change and human health. Dr. Lin started assessing extreme heat on human health in 2007 when few studies had been conducted in this area. Through eight external grant awards (e.g., CDC, NIH etc.), she has filled fundamental knowledge gaps by examining a spectrum of health outcomes in relation to extreme heat/cold, various extreme weather events such as Hurricane Sandy, identifying disparities and vulnerabilities, and climate indicators. Her findings and vulnerability maps have been used by NYSDOH to create adaptation plans to climate change. She was also invited to speak at many conferences and seminars organized by CDC, UNICEF, United Nation, and other government agencies which provide significant policy impacts. Her findings funded by NIH and published in JAHA regarding projected changes in maternal heat exposure during early pregnancy and the associated congenital heart defects in the United States was covered by more than 45 news media outlets, including U.S. News, World Report, CNN, and Reuters, and generated more than 130 million media impressions. Dr. Lin has published over 100 papers in this field. 
• Evaluating ultrafine particles’ health impact and policy’s modification effect. By collaborating with scientists from the Atmospheric Science Research Center UAlbany, Dr. Lin has evaluated the impacts of ultrafine particles (UFP), which are considered an emergent but not regulated pollutant, on both mortality and morbidity. Her team have found that UFP was associated with multiple health outcomes, including total mortality, CVD, respiratory diseases and infection, renal diseases, neurogenerative diseases, and pregnancy complications. Most papers were published in top environmental health journals. In addition, she also collaborated with faculty from Rochester University in assessing how environmental emission policies affect the PM_2.5-health response relationship. She has advised many students on preparing the research papers and her team is a very productive team with 15-20 papers published every year.
• Assessing school environment and children’s health, attendance and academic scores. Since 2007, Dr. Lin has conducted surveys of school nurses, teachers, facility managers and head custodians in identifying problems in school environments by partnership with NYSDOH, NYS Education Department, and NYS Teacher Union. Dr. Lin has served as the PI for four grants, and her studies found that visible mold, humidity problems, poor ventilation, and vermin infestations were positively associated with school absenteeism, especially among schools in areas with low sociodemographic. More recently, her team discovered that PM_2.5 levels routinely exceeded the EPA standards at home, in the fall, and in the evening by using personal monitors. This may provide important clues to environmental officials in pollution control. I served as the PI for all these projects.     
• Directing the first residential heath study after 9/11 disaster. Emergency preparedness has become an important area and top priority in the U.S. Between 2002 and 2006, Dr. Lin obtained three CDC grants as the PI in evaluating respiratory health impacts on residents living near the former World Trade Center (WTC) site after the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks, which were the earliest studies on local residents. Through eight published papers, we indicated that the respiratory effects from 9/11/01 seemed to be persistent, even up to five years after the attack. The results have been presented and disseminated to the local NYC community and medical care groups. 

Samples of earlier completed studies:

• Breathe Easy in Erie County – This was the first community study Dr. Lin led to examine the relationship between asthma and indoor/outdoor air toxins. Her team surveyed 3,008 children and collected data included questionnaires, lung function testing, allergen skin tests, dust samples for measuring metals and allergens, and air samples for assessing aldehydes and mold spores in 100 homes by collaborating with local officials and community groups. 
• Traffic exposure and asthma - After noting higher asthma rates in neighborhoods located near highways in Buffalo, she initiated one of the earliest U.S. studies to assess the impact of heavy traffic on childhood asthma risk. We found that residential proximity (within 200 meters) to state routes with high traffic density and routes with heavy trailers passing by were associated with increased risk of childhood asthma. The results were reported to the communities to address their concern and used for evidence-based education.
• Power outage and extreme weather on heath - Through the award by NIH, Dr. Lin found that the joint effects of POs and extreme weather events on multiple health outcomes were consistently stronger than the events or POs alone in NYS.  Those findings regarding PO during Super-storm Sandy on mental health were featured in Time Magazine, The US Conservation, and multiple media outlets. Lin’s team also developed keyword lists for mental health and injury conditions for the first time for the NYSDOH syndromic surveillance program.
• Fish consumption and heavy metal exposures –Dr. Lin has investigated fish consumption and heavy metal exposures by collaborating with Capital District Chinese Community and Wadsworth Laboratory. 

Research Interests:

• Climate change and extreme weather events on human health outcomes
• Impacts of air pollution and ultrafine particles on human health
• Disaster epidemiology and public health (WTC 9/11 disaster, Hurricane Sandy, extreme weather-related disasters etc.)
• School environmental factors and children’s health, attendance, and performance
• Evaluation of environmental policy’s impact on human health
• Fish consumption and heavy metal exposures
• International collaborative research

Teaching:

• EHS 545 - Global Climate Change, Extreme Weather and Public Health 
• EHS 603/EPI613 – Introduction to occupational and environmental epidemiology 
• EHS 629 - Protocol Development and Grant Writing 
• EPI 630 – Global Perspectives in Epidemiology