Fellow, Graduate Fellowship for Global Justice and Equity
Reshma Nargund is a 5th year PhD candidate at the Nicholas School of the Environment. Coming from India where air pollution is a big problem, she is passionate about studying the effects of air pollution on human health. She is also interested in exploring environmental justice issues associated with the disproportionate burden of environmental pollutants in developing countries and low socioeconomic communities. For her doctoral work, she is focused on understanding the impact of air pollution exposure during pregnancy on the epigenome (gene expression) of the infant and its relationship to birth outcomes and neighborhood disadvantage. She is utilizing data from two independent pregnancy cohorts based in Florida (led by Sara Johnson at Johns Hopkins University) and in North Carolina (led by Cathrine Hoyo at NC State University) that are collectively funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities for the purposes of better understanding the role of maternal stress and her early life adverse events on her child’s epigenome. She is co-advised by Dr. Susan Murphy and Dr. William Pan from Duke University.