Research Vulnerable Populations

Joseph Allen, DSC, MPH, CIH

Director of the Healthy Buildings Program

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Dr. Joseph G. Allen is an associate professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, director of Harvard’s Healthy Buildings Program, and co-author of Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces Can Make You Sick—or Keep You Well. Dr. Allen serves on Harvard’s Presidential Committee on Sustainability, he keynoted the White House’s first-ever Indoor Air Quality Summit, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, served as Commissioner of The Lancet COVID-19 Commission and Chair of its Safe Work, Safe Schools, and Safe Travel Task Force. In 2023, Allen was featured on the 60 Minutes episode, The Air We Breathe, spotlighting the value of healthy indoor air quality for virus mitigation. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers and regularly contributes to the New York Times, Washington Post, and Harvard Business Review.

Parham Azimi, PHD

Research Associate with the Healthy Buildings Program

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Parham Azimi’s research focuses on the fate, transport, and control of indoor aerosols of indoor and ambient origin, the chronic health impacts of fine and ultrafine particles, and the transmission of infectious diseases. Currently, he is evaluating the transmission risk of infectious respiratory diseases, including influenza, measles, and Covid-19, in various indoor environments such as cruise ships, schools, and healthcare facilities using a newly-developed mechanistic model. In addition, he is working on the impacts of flood and building characteristics on mold growth and occupational respiratory health in residential buildings. Parham joined the Healthy Buildings Program in 2019 after two years of working as a research associate in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he also received his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering in 2016. He earned his M.Sc. degree in Environmental Engineering in 2012 and a B.Sc. degree in Civil Engineering in 2010, both from the Department of Civil Engineering at Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.

Lauren Ferguson, PHD

Postdoctoral Fellow with the Healthy Buildings Program

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Lauren Ferguson is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Healthy Buildings Program. Lauren holds a PhD in Environmental Engineering from University College London (UCL), UK, where she built a personal exposure model which estimated childhood exposure to PM_2.5 for 1.3 million individuals in Greater London. The tool can be used to assess a number of “soft” (for example, behavioral modifications) and “hard” (for example, building interventions) policy interventions on childhood exposure to air pollution. Lauren’s interests lie in using building physics and statistical models to assess population-level exposures to indoor environmental hazards, such as heat and air pollution, and understanding how these exposures lead to health impacts and inequalities. In addition to her doctoral research, she has applied these techniques to study population exposure to household air pollution in Nairobi’s informal settlements and predict the extent of indoor overheating the UK housing stock may face under future climate scenarios. The goal of her work with the Healthy Buildings Program is to continue her research into indoor heat, where she will be building a US-based housing stock model.

Shivani Parikh, BA

PhD Candidate with the Healthy Buildings Program

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Shivani is a PhD candidate in Population Health Sciences in the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and has been a member of the Healthy Buildings Team for the past four years. Her interests center on leveraging translational research on healthy building strategies—cutting across air quality, material health, and energy efficiency—to bridge the existing gap between communities, private organizations, and government and ultimately create healthier physical and social environments for people to live, work, learn, and play. She earned her MS in Environmental Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and her BA in Chemistry and Health & Societies at Haverford College.

Gen Pei, PhD

Research Associate with the Healthy Buildings Program

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Gen Pei’s research focuses on building science, indoor air quality, infectious disease transmission, building materials, and energy-efficient and resilient buildings. Currently, he is working on developing effective interventions to mitigate infectious diseases transmission in buildings, and quantifying the health and climate benefits of energy-saving measures in buildings. His doctoral research established a measurement and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling framework to understand pollutant transport, fate, chemical reaction, and control in indoor environments. The goal of his research is to advance our knowledge of developing healthy, smart, sustainable, and resilient buildings. Gen holds a Ph.D. and an M.Sc. in Architectural Engineering at Pennsylvania State University, and a B.Sc. in Building Environment and Energy Engineering at Xi’an Jiaotong University.