Purpose

Please join us for a research seminar on the “HIFIVE” project (Health Impacts of Filtration ImproVements in Elementary Schools), a study conducted in partnership between UC Irvine investigators and the Los Angeles Unified School District. The goal of this project was to assess the health impacts of air filtration interventions in vulnerable AB 617 elementary schools. The study placed portable air filtration units in classrooms, and PM 2.5 sensors both indoors and outdoors. The investigators examined the health impacts of improved air filtration for students in Southern California elementary schools in Carson, Torrance, Harbor City, and Lomita. Parents and teachers helped to monitor health impacts to students through the use of questionnaires. 

Visit the project webpage (https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/hifive-health-impacts-filtration-improvements-elementary-schools) for more information about this research. The project webpage will host the final report, presentation slides, and seminar recording once they become available.

Biographies

Dr. Verónica Vieira is Professor and Chair of Environmental and Occupational Health at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). Her research involves epidemiologic analyses of health data for examining the contributions of known risk factors and environmental exposures to the underlying pattern of disease risk with a particular emphasis on the importance of location. She works extensively with geographic methods to model environmental exposures and identify communities where health risks are elevated.

Dr. Scott Bartell is Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health and Statistics at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). His research interest is environmental health methodology, with applications in environmental epidemiology, exposure science, pharmacokinetic modeling, and risk assessment, especially for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).