Co-Presenter Prof Thomas Astell-Burt is a Founding Co-Director of the PowerLab and an NHMRC Boosting Dementia Research Leadership Fellow. Thomas will outline some recent news and findings by the PowerLab in the area of population health environmental data science.

Professor Joachim Heinrich is an internationally recognised epidemiologist with expertise in asthma and air pollution. He is Unit Head of Population Studies at Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Germany, and retired director of the Institute of Epidemiology I at Helmholtz Zentrum. Professor Heinrich’s research interests include the long- and short-term health effects of ambient air pollution, assessment methods of air pollution and greenspace, and risk factors for asthma and allergies (including air pollution and greenspace). He has more than 1000 publications in peer-reviewed journals and a H-index of 104. Professor Heinrich is a world-leading researcher in asthma (ranked 16th) and air pollution epidemiology (ranked in the top 10) (Zell et al J Occup Med Toxicol, 2010), and was awarded Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics in 2018

Seminar Abstract: Recent high-quality studies have strengthened the link between fine particulate air pollution and an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, estimating that air pollution is responsible for about 14 per cent of new cases of type 2 diabetes each year worldwide.

Following these studies, Professor Joachim Heinrich and colleagues conducted an extended systematic review of epidemiological studies that not only confirmed the link between air pollution and type 2 diabetes but reported findings also for predispositions of T2D and results on meta-analysis. Professor Heinrich will detail the findings of their recently completed review and discuss the implications for strengthening activities to improve air quality.