Our Faculty

Dr. Patrick Kinney's teaching and research address issues at the intersection of global environmental change, human health, and policy, with an emphasis on the public health impacts of climate change and air pollution. His work in the 1990s on air quality and environmental justice in Northern Manhattan and the South Bronx led to important new insights into the impacts of diesel vehicle emissions on local air quality. Dr. Kinney has carried out numerous studies examining the human health effects of air pollution, including studies of the effects of ozone and/or particulate matter on lung health and on daily mortality in large cities. More recently, he developed a new interdisciplinary research and teaching program at Columbia examining the potential impacts of climate change on human health. Dr. Kinney was the first to show that climate change could worsen urban smog problems in the U.S., with attendent adverse health impacts. He also has projected future health impacts related to heat waves in the NYC metropolitan area. In a new research initiative, Dr. Kinney is working with clinicians at Columbia University Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital to understand how past and future climate may affect pollen-related allergic airway diseases. In early 2009 the Mailman School established a Program on Climate and Health led by Dr. Kinney. Dr. Kinney earned his doctorate at the Harvard School of Public Health, where he studied the effects of air pollution on lung function in children as part of the Harvard Six Cities Air Pollution and Health Study.

ScD, Harvard University, 1986

MS, Harvard University, 1982

BA, University of Colorado, 1977

Mailman School Affiliations:

• Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health 
• Columbia Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan 

University Affiliations:

• Center for Sustainable Urban Development
• Earth Institute
• Columbia Climate Center
• Columbia Climate and Health Program

Additional Affiliations:

• Member, New York Academy of Sciences
• International Society of Environmental Epidemiology

New York Climate and Health Project
Project URL: http://directory.ei.columbia.edu/displayproject.php?projectid=150
An integrated modeling system was developed and used to assess potential future health impacts of climate change in the NYC metropolitan region.

NYC Traffic Pollution and Health Study
Project URL: http://directory.ei.columbia.edu/displayproject.php?projectid=318
High school students attending schools near heavily-trafficed roadways were studied to assess the impacts of air pollution on acute respiratory symptoms

Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health
Project URL: http://www.mailman.hs.columbia.edu/ccceh/index.htm
We are studying the health effects of early-life air pollution exposures in children from Northern Manhattan and the South Bronx.

Biomass Working Group at Columbia University
Assessing health impacts of indoor combustion of biomass fuels for cooking. Studies completed or ongoing in Kenya, Rwanda, and Ghana.

Countries: Ghana

Urban Planning, Air Quality and Human Health in Developing World Cities Project URL: http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/csud/

Assessing exposures and health effects of outdoor urban air pollution in the Nairobi area, and the influence of alternative development patterns.

Countries: Kenya

Millennium Cities Initiative of the Earth Institute Project URL: http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/news/2006/story04-24-06b.php

Monitoring and analysis of air and water quality indicators in seven African cities.