Post Category Indoor Air Quality

Portable Air Cleaners: Selection and Application Considerations for COVID-19 Risk Reduction The Harvard Healthy Buildings Program published a report on the selection and application considerations of Portable Air Cleaners (PACs) for COVID-19 risk reduction. Engineering controls and Healthy Buildings measures are a key component of the “hierarchy of controls” that should be used in a […]

There is great disparity in the way we think about and address different sources of environmental infection. Governments have for decades publicized legislation and invested in food safety, sanitation, and drinking water for public health purposes. However, airborne pathogens and respiratory infections, whether seasonal influenza or COVID-19, are addressed fairly weakly, if at all, in […]

The Global CogFx study, a research project conducted among 302 office workers in six countries (China, India, Mexico, Thailand, the UK and the US) aims to understand the effects of indoor air pollution on cognitive performance. Our paper published today shows the significant acute effects of PM2.5 and ventilation on cognitive test performance. These findings add […]

October 11, 2022 – Dr. Joseph Allen, associate professor for exposure assessment science and director of the Healthy Buildings program at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, was a guest panelist at the first White House Summit on Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). The summit underlined the relevance of IAQ for public health and human […]

Ahead of World Mental Health Day, YouTube and the Center for Health Communications (CHC) at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health held an exclusive briefing session for public health creators. The briefing focused on the overlooked connection between air quality and mental health. It was part of the center’s “Creators Summit series,” which connects scientists and […]

In collaboration with the University of Hawai’i at Manoa (UH) and community members, researchers of the Harvard Healthy Buildings Program are collecting data to examine human health risks of wildfire-related pollutants in homes following the Maui wildfires last August. The study is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and aims to assess a comprehensive […]

The pandemic abruptly disrupted workplaces overnight, transforming many homes into offices. Here are the newest takeaways from our Home/Work study. To examine the role environmental factors in the home play on the cognitive function of remote workers, our team designed a study led by Dr. Anna Young that studied 206 office workers who worked in remote or […]

The research team, led by Dr. Gen Pei, Research Associate with the Healthy Buildings Program, developed a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model to evaluate how portable air cleaners (PACs) help remove airborne pathogens and mitigate disease transmission in occupied classrooms. The recent pandemic underscored the importance of maintaining safe indoor environments for students and teachers […]

August 8 marks the one-year anniversary of the Lahaina wildfires, which caused devastating loss of life, community, and homes. Researchers in Hawaii and across the U.S. have been working to understand the ongoing environmental and health impacts of the wildfires. The Harvard Healthy Buildings Program is one of those teams. In partnership with local community […]