Geospatial Exposome Lab
at Fred Hutch Cancer Center
advancing research at the intersection of geospatial science, epidemiology, & the environment to improve health
selected updates & highlights
update on 8 Nov 2025
Presented a talk entitled "The Air We Breathe: Is There a Link Between Pollution and Liver Health?" at the Session on "Our Environment and Liver Health: What Practitioners and Patients Need to Know" at the 2025 The Liver Meeting (American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases [AASLD]) in Washington, D.C.
Pictured with Dr. George Ioannou, Session Moderator and Chair of the AASLD Public Health / Health Care Delivery Special Interest Group
update on 23 Sep 2025
Awarded a new R21 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to examine the role of environmental exposures, including solar jetlag using our new high-resolution geospatial model, air pollution, wildfires, and heat waves, in relation to sleep health and disparities.
NIH/NHLBI R21 HL177702 (MPI Trang VoPham & Matthew Weaver)
NHLBI is the Administering Institute or Center (IC) and NIEHS is the Funding IC
update on 19 Aug 2025
Malia Cortez was selected for an oral abstract presentation of an epidemiologic study on agricultural glyphosate exposure and mortality risk at the 2025 Joint Annual Meeting of the International Society of Exposure Science and the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology in Atlanta, GA. Jiayu Chloe Lin is co-first author of this study. Congratulations to Malia and Chloe for leading this important work!
update on 29 Jul 2025
Published an epidemiologic study examining the associations between air pollution, wildfires, and cancer survival. We found that higher PM2.5 air pollution exposure, particularly in areas more heavily impacted by wildfires, was associated with increased risk for cancer mortality among individuals diagnosed with cancer.
Graphical abstract here
update on 28 Apr 2025
Congratulations to Dr. Seigi Karasaki on receiving the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)-Doreen J. Putrah Cancer Research Foundation Scholar-in-Training Award for his research on environmental circadian misalignment and cancer, which he presented at the 2025 AACR Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL. We are so proud of you!
update on 7 Apr 2025
Dr. Seigi Karasaki was selected for an oral abstract presentation of his epidemiologic and geospatial research at the 2025 American Society of Preventive Oncology (ASPO) Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA. He described results from a study on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water and cancer. Congratulations to Dr. Karasaki on his outstanding work!
update on 26 Apr 2025
Chaired and presented at the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting Educational Session entitled "Environmental Exposures for Cancer Population Sciences Research" (presentation title: "Environmental Determinants of Cancer for Exposome Research") with fellow presenters, Drs. Hari Iyer and Jaime Hart, in Chicago, IL
update on 7 Mar 2025
KING 5 News covered our research on solar jetlag, which is a source of environmental circadian misalignment due to differences in light exposure experienced based on location within a time zone - or the mismatch between the sun clock and the social clock.
The methodology paper for our new geospatial light exposure model for solar jetlag describes a scalable workflow that enables the development of a light exposure model at a 30 m spatial resolution for any spatial extent, temporal resolution, and temporal extent to conduct epidemiologic studies. This model incorporates data on time zone position, sunrise times, sunset times, and elevation by leveraging Google Earth Engine and geemap. This model was validated using LYS Button wearable light sensors.
More information on model development and collaborations can be found on our ArcGIS StoryMap
Axios Seattle news story on the interplay between solar jetlag and Daylight Saving Time
update on 15 Jul 2024
A very warm welcome to Dr. Seigi Karasaki! He is joining us as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow supported by the National Cancer Institute T32 Training Program on Cancer Health Disparities (T32 CA094880). Dr. Karasaki received his PhD and MS from the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley. He brings expertise in environmental justice, community-based research methods, machine learning, and geospatial science. His research focuses on balancing machine learning/algorithmic approaches with local lived experiences and priorities. We are so excited to work with Dr. Karasaki!
update on 6 Feb 2024
Published a conceptual framework that illustrates how geospatial science is applied to environmental epidemiology in practice and through the lens of the exposome research paradigm. This paper was inspired by our 2023 Geospatial Science Methods Workshop at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in Orlando, FL. More info on the workshop can be found here: bit.ly/aacrgeospatial
update on 14 Sep 2023
Serving as Chair of the Social & Environmental Working Group to provide expertise in geospatial science, environmental epidemiology, and social determinants of health for a new prospective cohort called the Multi-ethnic Observational Study in American Asian and Pacific Islander Communities (MOSAAIC). Fred Hutch will serve as the Coordinating Center for 5 sites across the US that will recruit at least 10,000 Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander persons to better understand risk factors for cardiovascular disease and other health outcomes.
NIH/NHLBI U24 HL169645 (MPI Anderson, Chan, Floyd & Kaplan)
update on 10 Mar 2022
Featured on the Freakonomics, M.D. podcast to discuss our lab's research on light exposure related to solar jetlag and environmental circadian misalignment
Episode 28: Is Daylight Saving Time Hazardous to Your Health?
Studies discussed during the interview include: