Erika Garcia, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences
Biography
Erika Garcia is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Environmental Health of the Department of Preventive Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. She is an environmental epidemiologist whose research focuses on the role of airborne environmental contaminants in the development of human disease and applies both traditional epidemiologic as well as advanced causal inference methodologies. She has published studies conducted in both occupational and community exposure settings. Her early research involved examination of the healthy worker survivor effect and application of g-methods in cancer studies of autoworkers exposed to metalworking fluids. More recently, her research has focused on the effects of early-life air pollution exposure on pediatric respiratory and metabolic health outcomes, including new-onset asthma, lung function, and childhood obesity. As part of these studies, she uses causal inference methods to estimate effects of policy-relevant air pollution interventions. Dr. Garcia received a PhD and MPH in Environmental Health Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley.
Research Interests
- Morbidity and mortality
- Climate Change
- Air Pollution
- respiratory
- Multilevel Modeling
Publications
Moving beyond medication: Assessment and interventions on environmental and social determinants are needed to reduce severe asthma.
J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2022 Feb;149(2):535-537. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2021.12.760. Epub 2021 Dec 13. PubMed PMID: 34915038;
Time trends in emergency department use among adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Disabil Health J. 2022 Apr;15(2):101225. doi: 10.1016/j.dhjo.2021.101225. Epub 2021 Nov 6. PubMed PMID: 34782255;
Prenatal metal(loid) mixtures and birth weight for gestational age: A pooled analysis of three cohorts participating in the ECHO program.
Environ Int. 2022 Mar;161:107102. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2022.107102. Epub 2022 Jan 23. PubMed PMID: 35081493; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8891091.
Association of improved air quality with lower dementia risk in older women.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 Jan 11;119(2). doi: 10.1073/pnas.2107833119. PubMed PMID: 34983871; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8764698.
Temperature variability associations with cardiovascular and respiratory emergency department visits in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Environ Int. 2022 Jun;164:107267. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2022.107267. Epub 2022 May 2. PubMed PMID: 35533532;