Today at Brown

The notion that air pollution can adversely affect breathing has been around for a long time. In the last decade or so, however, researchers have increasingly focused on something else: That bad air can hurt your heart.

Gregory Wellenius is worried about just that. The newly hired assistant professor of community health studies the affects of air pollution on cardiovascular health. “Specifically,” he said, “we worry about the heart and the blood vessels going to the brain.”

Wellenius, 34, begins his research at Brown this fall and will start teaching in the spring. His specialty is a first for Brown, and he said he’s very excited to bring it to the University.

“They are trying to develop a stronger program in public health and eventually a school in public health,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity for me to come and establish a new research area that is not yet a part of Brown.”

In doing so, Wellenius said he looks forward to collaborating with both old and new colleagues alike, both here at Brown and around the country. Experts are also focusing on air pollution and its effects on cardiovascular health at Harvard University, the University of Washington–Seattle and the University of Southern California.

Wellenius, who was born in Chile but grew up in suburban Washington, D.C., earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in physiology at McGill University in Montreal. He earned his Sc.D. in environmental health and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. Most recently, he was an instructor at Harvard Medical School. He taught at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston as well, where he had served as a research fellow.

Wellenius, a married father of two young girls, said he became interested in his particular field after arriving at Harvard and beginning work with some researchers focused on the specialty. He said there is a fair amount known, but much more that is uncertain about air pollution and its effects on the body.

“We have a pretty good sense that more air pollution is bad for you,” he said. “But we don’t know which pollutants or which sources of these pollutants are most harmful. And it is hard to regulate pollutants if you don’t know exactly which sources of pollutants are most harmful to health.”

In In addition to pollutants and sources, Wellenius also wants to identify individuals who may be susceptible to these effects and explore the physiology of how the pollutants do their damage, in hopes of learning how to prevent damage.

“The pollutants we look at are regulated but there is potential room for more regulation, depending on how the technology for controlling pollution improves and as we discover new health effects” of pollution, he said. “The cost-benefit analysis changes constantly.”

When not working, Wellenius, who lives in Boston, enjoys the city with his wife and children. The family goes on day trips, to picnics, playgrounds and museums.

Wellenius said he looks forward to starting at Brown and invites people to come visit him in his second-floor office at 121 South Main St. “Anybody interested should just come knock on my door or come any time,” he said.