Education
Upon my arrival at the University of Alberta, we
developed and now teach the graduate course in Pediatrics, Children’s Health
and the Environment. It compiles years of experience working with students from different backgrounds, non-governmental organizations, and professionals from
various disciplines. These and my research experiences confirm my conviction
that interdisciplinary collaborative work is essential to move forward on the
subject of environmental health.
Research
I was part of the MILAGRO interdisciplinary, multicenter air quality study in Mexico City (2006). This study was
led by the Noble Prize winner Mario Molina and Luisa Molina. E.g.:
Molina LT, Madronich S, ..., Osornio-Vargas
AR. An overview of the MILAGRO 2006
campaign: Mexico City emissions and their transport and transformation. Atmos
Chem Phys 10:1-64, 2010.
The research and policy implications of this
significant study are still in progress.
I was responsible for developing the Basic
Research Division, Mexican National Cancer Institute, serving as chairman
between 1990-1992 & 1994–1998. I started with a handful of new enthusiastic
young investigators, and now it is a mature Division hosting various research
groups.
My expertise in particulate matter-related
toxicity and environmental health has focused on experimentally understanding
how complex chemical mixtures determine cellular responses. E.g.:
Manzano-Leon N, Serrano-Lomelin
J, ... O´Neill MS, Osornio-Vargas
AR. TNFa and IL-6 responses to particulate
matter in vitro: Variation according to PM size, season, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and soil content. Env Health Perspect
124(4):406-412, 2016.
Interdisciplinary Research
I started a collaborative interdisciplinary team
to study the geographic distribution of chemicals emitted into the air, adverse birth outcomes, and children’s cancer in Canada. The group includes toxicology, epidemiology, data mining, geographic information systems,
pediatrics, obstetrics, cardiology and knowledge users. We focus on using
public databases to provide potentially useful information in understanding environmental influences on health. All funding received since 2009 is based
on interdisciplinary research initiatives, including international ones.
Examples of publications resulting from these efforts are:
Jabbar MSM, Bellinger C, Zaiane OR, Osornio-Vargas A. Discovering co-location patterns with aggregated
spatial transactions and dependency rules. Int J Data Sci Anal (2018)
5:137-154, 2018.
Serrano-Lomelin J, Nielsen C, Jabbar S, Wine O, Bellinger C, ... Zaiane O, Osornio Vargas A. Interdisciplinary-driven hypotheses on spatial
associations of mixtures of industrial air pollutants with adverse birth
outcomes. Environment International 131:104972, 2019.
Research and Policy
Our work on the toxic effects of air pollutants
allowed me to be a member of the working group reviewing the Mexican Federal
Air Quality Norm for Particulate Matter (NOM-025-SSA1-1993) for the Ministry of
Health (1999 –2000). This work moved the PM10 air quality standard from 150 to 120 mg/m3. Results that provided support are:
Osornio-Vargas AR, et al. 2003.
Proinflammatory and cytotoxic effects of Mexico City air pollution particulate
matter in vitro are dependent on particle size and composition. Environ Health
Perspect, 111:1289-1293, 2003.