Jacqueline MacDonald Gibson Professor

My research seeks to illuminate what individuals, communities, and policymakers can do to make the biggest and most lasting improvements in public health by improving the quality of our environment.

We examine environmental risks to health at the scale of communities, building models that integrate knowledge of how pollutants are distributed through communities, how people become exposed to pollutants and other environmental risks factors, and how these exposures, in turn, increase risks of illness or premature death.

Current Research

• Predicting and Communicating PFAS Exposure Risks from Rural Private Wells
• Water Infrastructure to Improve Childhood Outcomes and Decrease Childhood Lead Exposure
• Targeting Homes with High Lead Exposure Risks by Leveraging Big Data and Advanced Machine-Learning Algorithms
• Water and Health Infrastructure, Resilience, and Learning (WHIRL)
• Evaluating the Effectiveness of Point-Of-Use (POU) Water Filters for Mitigating Waterborne Contaminants from Private Drinking Water Wells in North Carolina

She conducts interdisciplinary research on the quantification of risks due to environmental contamination and on the quantitative comparison policy options for controlling environmental risks.

Current Research

• Water and Health Infrastructure, Resilience, and Learning (WHIRL)
• The Impact of Intensive Livestock Production on the Disease Ecology of Antibiotic Resistant Staphylococcus
• Evaluating the Effectiveness of Point-Of-Use (POU) Water Filters for Mitigating Waterborne Contaminants from Private Drinking Water Wells in North Carolina
• Racial Disparities in Access to Public Water and Sewer Service in North Carolina

Research: Environmental risk assessment and decision-making; Water-health

Research Area:

• Environment and Human Health
• Environmental Policy and Management
• Environmental Science