Air Pollution and Climate Change

Trained as a physician in Bangalore Medical College, Poornima has a Master’s in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a PhD in Social Medicine from the University of Bristol, UK. She was previously Additional Professor, Head, Environmental Health and Director of the Centre for Environmental Health at the Public Health Foundation of India leading research, training and advocacy, Chair of the research sub-committee in the WHO-GCHA CSO working group for Climate change and health and member of the Board of Directors of the Global Climate and Health Alliance. Now as Director, Centre for Health Analytics Research and Trends(CHART), Trivedi School of Biosciences, Ashoka University, India and Senior Research Scientist, Centre for Chronic Disease Control, New Delhi, her research portfolio includes studying health effects of environmental pollutants on both children and adults, leading national and international collaborative projects in India on these issues.She is currently also a Lancet Commissioner for Sustainable Healthcare and is a member of technical groups providing inputs to national and sub-national programs and policies for climate change and air pollution.

Thomas Münzel, MD, is a Senior Professor and Environmental Cardiologist in the Department of Cardiology at the University Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany. From 2004 to 2023, he served as the Director of the department.
Dr. Münzel’s expertise lies in interventional cardiology and vascular biology. He completed his postdoctoral training in vascular biology at the Institute of Applied Physiology under Professor Eberhard Bassenge at Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg. He furthered his research as a visiting scientist in the laboratory of Dr. David G. Harrison at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, focusing on endothelial function and oxidative stress.
Dr. Münzel is a co-initiator of the Gutenberg Health Study, one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive prospective cohort studies. He was also the founding director of the Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis (CTH) in Mainz.
Since 2011, his research has centered on environmental risk factors for CVD.

I focus on the precise control of atmospheric environmental risk factors and have developed new technologies and methods, such as exposure simulation, risk identification, and risk prediction, characterized by the integration of multidisciplinary techniques.I have led 11 national-level research projects, including: National Outstanding Youth Fund project, National Natural Science Foundation of China key project, Integrated Project topic, National Key R&D Program projects. Over the past five years, I have published 76 original research and opinion papers as the first or corresponding author in top-tier journals, including Lancet, Nature, and their sub-journals. Of these, 45 were published in top-tier journals (Category 1) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with an average Impact Factor of 21. I have also served as the chief editor of 1 monograph and the deputy editor or contributing author of 12 books. Additionally, I hold 7 patents and 22 software copyrights. Among my honors, I received the 2022 Cell Press First China Female Scientist Award (one of only five recipients nationwide), was selected as part of the second batch of the National “Ten Thousand Talents Program” Youth Top Talent, and was awarded the 2024 Huaxia Youth Medical Science and Technology Award. I have been ranked among the global top 2% of scientists for three consecutive years. I am currently a member of the World Heart Federation Expert Committee on Air Pollution and Climate Change, a member of the National Environmental and Health Expert Advisory Committee, Deputy Editor of Environmental Hygiene Journal, Guest Editor of Environ International, Youth Editorial Board of Innovation, and Editorial Board member of Chinese Journal of Preventive Medicine

Sumi Mehta has over 20 years of experience at the intersection of health, environment, and development, with a focus on air pollution and household energy. She has expertise in epidemiology, exposure assessment, comparative risk assessment, and cost-effectiveness analysis, extensive field experience in South, and Southeast Asia, and has also worked in Africa, East Asia, and Latin America.