The Environmental Statistics Research Pillar in the Division of Biostatistics is dedicated to advancing understanding of the complex relationships between environmental exposures and human health. The group develops innovative statistical models and analytical algorithms to enable exposome research, focusing on the temporal and spatial interplay of environmental factors affecting health outcomes. Key areas of investigation include the long-term effects of environmental disasters, such as the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, on mental and physical health disorders; identifying vulnerable subpopulations and critical windows of exposure to chronic environmental pollutants like PM2.5; and exploring the health impacts of Social Determinants of Health (SDoHs) and gene-environment interactions through association studies, mediation analysis, and causal inference.

The group fosters collaboration and progress through regular meetings. Biweekly World Trade Center research progress meetings occur on the second and fourth Friday afternoons from 2:00PM to 3:00PM, while weekly cancer data meetings are held on Wednesday afternoons from 3:00PM to 4:00PM. These sessions provide a platform to share updates and refine methodologies in environmental health research.

Lead Faculty

Mengling Liu, PhD
Professor

Yongzhao Shao, PhD
Professor

Faculty Members

Matthew Lee, DrPH, MPH
Assistant Professor

Yidan Shi, PhD
Assistant Professor

Our Methodology Research

• Wang Y, Ghassabian A, Gu B, Afanasyeva Y, Li Y, Trasande L, Liu M. Semiparametric distributed lag quantile regression for modeling time-dependent exposure mixtures. Biometrics. 2023 Sep;79(3):2619-2632. doi: 10.1111/biom.13702. Epub 2022 Jun 10. PMID: 35612351; PMCID: PMC10718172. 
• Wang Y, Berger KI, Zhang Y, Shao Y, Goldring GM, Reibman J, Liu M. Novel approach to studying effects of inhalational exposure on lung function in civilians exposed to the World Trade Center disaster. Scientific Reports. (2023) Feb 24;13(1):3218. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-30030-2.
• Yang L, Fang Y, Wang J, Shao Y. Variable selection for partially linear models via learning gradients. Electronic Journal of Statistics (2017). 11(2), 2907-2930.

Our Collaborative Research

• Shao Y, Zhang Y, Liu M, Fernandez-Beros ME, Qian M, Reibman J. Gene-environment interaction between the IL1RN variants and childhood environmental tobacco smoke exposure in asthma risk. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020 Mar;17(6):2036.
• Shao Y, Durmus N, Zhang Y, Pehlivan S, Fernandez-Beros ME, Umana L, Corona R, Addessi A, Abbott SA, Smyth-Giambanco S, Arslan AA. The development of a WTC environmental health center pan-cancer database. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021 Feb;18(4):1646.
• Shao Y, Zhang Y, Liu M, Fernandez-Beros ME, Qian M, Reibman J. Gene-environment interaction between the IL1RN variants and childhood environmental tobacco smoke exposure in asthma risk. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020 Mar;17(6):2036.

Contact Us

For more information about the Environmental Statistics Research Pillar, please contact Mengling Liu, PhD, at Mengling.Liu@NYULangone.org or Yongzhao Shao, PhD, at Yongzhao.Shao@NYULangone.org.