NASA HEALTH AND AIR QUALITY APPLIED SCIENCES TEAM
Connecting NASA Data and Tools with Health and Air Quality Stakeholders

Dr. Qian Xiao

Credentials: Assistant Professor, University of Texas Health Sciencees Center at Houston

Address:
Faculty Profile
Qian.Xiao@uth.tmc.edu

Xiao Headshot

Qian Xiao is an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences in the University of Texas Health Sciencees Center at Houston. Her research focuses on understanding the health consequences of sleep deficiency and circadian dysfunction by integrating factors at the individual, biological and contextual levels. She has a particular interest in studying how environmental hazards, such as light at night, shape sleep and circadian rhythms and contribute to disease risks.

HAQAST Project: Applying NASAs Earth Observation Products to Improve Artificial Light at Night (ALAN) Mapping and Public Health Surveillance

Qian’s team will wortk to integrate up-to-date, high-quality and easy-to-use artificial light at night (ALAN) data in environmental health monitoring programs to better understand the public health implications of ALAN and enable evidence-based decision making.

Project goals/deliverables:

  1. Construct a series of maps of ALAN for the U.S. using satellite data and ISS images.
  2. Develop statistical and visualization toolkits including a user-friendly interface to allow for easy linkage of ALAN with existing national and state datasets of health outcomes (e.g. obesity, mortality, cardiovascular disease, cancer, mental disorders, birth defects), lifestyle risk factors (e.g. sleep, physical activity, diet, smoking, alcohol), other environmental hazards (e.g. air and water pollution, noise), and population vulnerability indicators (e.g. socioeconomic deprivation, neighborhood disorders).

Co-Investogators/Team Members: Jun Wang (University of Iowa), Cici Bauer (UTHealth), Mariana Figueiro (Rutgers University), Heather Strosnider (CDC), Emily Hall (Texas DSHS)

Publications