Research Seminar: Psychosocial Stressors, Air Pollution, and Cardiovascular Disease -Anjum Hajat (University of Washington)
Abstract:
Understanding the role of the broader social and physical environment in cardiovascular disease (CVD) has implications for CVD prevention and the reduction of CVD disparities. Dr. Hajat will present two recent research endeavors. First she will discuss her research examining the association between neighborhood characteristics, such as poverty and social cohesion, and the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol plays an important role in the stress pathway, the hypothesized mechanism by which psychosocial stressors can cause disease. Then she will present her research on the impact of air pollution on inflammation and other markers of CVD. Air pollution is a known risk factor of CVD and is unequally disturbed by race and class, thus it is relevant to CVD disparities. Both these projects provide a platform from which she will conduct her future research which examines the joint effect of both the social and physical environments on CVD.
Bio of the author:
Dr. Hajat received her PhD in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and her MPH in Epidemiology and International Health from the University of Michigan. Currently she is a senior fellow in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington's School of Public Health. Dr. Hajat's current NIH funded research explores the joint effects of social and environmental exposures as they impact cardiovascular disease.