Antonella Zanobetti Joins Rutgers Center for Climate, Health, and Healthcare and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Antonella Zanobetti, PhD, MS, has joined the Rutgers Health-RWJBarnabas Health Center for Climate, Health, and Healthcare at the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research. She is also a professor in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Zanobetti is an environmental epidemiologist and applied statistician whose work focuses on the impact of air pollution and climate-related exposures on health, with a specific focus on cardiovascular disease and neurodegenerative disorders. Zanobetti’s research focuses on: 1) examination of the impact of short- and long-term exposure to air pollution on mortality and morbidity in adults, 2) the assessment of the health consequences of extreme temperatures and other weather parameters on mortality and morbidity; 3) the characterization of susceptibility, vulnerability, and environmental health disparities, and 4) children’s health.

“Dr. Zanobetti is a leading figure in environmental epidemiology, and her work sits at the core of what our center aims to advance,” said Soko Setoguchi, the co-director of the Center for Climate, Health, and Healthcare and a professor of medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. “She brings decades of rigorous, high-impact research to our center, which will strengthen our research capacity and training capacity for the next generation of climate and health scientists.”

Her work has contributed substantially to our understanding of air pollution and climate-mediated health impacts at local, national, and international levels. Findings from her studies have been incorporated into the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Integrated Science Assessment for Particulate Matter and used in National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) reviews and other regulatory and advisory documents.

Currently, Zanobetti is the PI of a National Institute of Health-funded RF1 award examining the impact of environmental factors on Lewy Body Dementia. She is the PI of a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences -funded R01 award investigating the cardiovascular effects of exposure to particle radioactivity. She is also an MPI of a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences-funded R01 award studying the link between multiple environmental exposures and the progression of Parkinson’s disease.

“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Zanobetti to Rutgers,” said Jeanne Clark, the chair of the department of medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and a Henry Rutgers Professor. “Given her background and expertise, we know that she will continue to make important contributions to our understanding of the effects of the environment on health and to training the next generation of scientists. We are also excited about the possible collaborations she could build across the different divisions in the Department of Medicine.”

Zanobetti has published over 285 manuscripts in journals, including the American Journal of Epidemiology, New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, The Lancet family of journals, Environmental Health Perspectives, Epidemiology, and Environmental International.

Zanobetti was recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher, ranking in the top 1% of scientists cited in her field between 2015 and 2021 by the citation database Web of Science by Clarivate, and was named the Top Italian Scientist in Biomedical Science beginning in 2020 by Top Italian Scientists ranking.

“I’m thrilled to join Rutgers, where there is a strong commitment to climate, health equity, and training the next generation of investigators,” said Zanobetti. “My goal is to build an internationally recognized program on environmental exposures and health across the life course, and to work with students, trainees, and colleagues across the university to generate evidence that informs regulation, clinical care, and community resilience.”

Prior to joining Rutgers, Zanobetti was a principal research scientist in the department of environmental health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She received her doctoral and master’s degrees in applied statistics from the University of Florence.