Human Health and Climate Change
Tim Takaro is a physician-scientist trained in occupational and environmental medicine, public health and toxicology. He has led projects on a wide range of human health risks related to climate change and environmental contamination, with his primary focus on disease susceptibility factors in environmental and occupational health.
During his sabbatical in 2013, he re-initiated a public health project in northern Nicaragua. There, Dr. Takaro mapped rural water systems’ vulnerability to extreme weather from climate change, and taught local community members to use geographical information systems to gather climate and other data from the watersheds that provide power and potable water to isolated communities.
As part of a national team of researchers, he has worked to uncover the links between environmental exposures and early development of respiratory diseases, primarily asthma. Dr. Takaro is co-principal investigator of the Climate Change Impacts Research Consortium, which evaluates water quality and quantity, and human health risks in the context of climate change. His current study, funded by Health Canada’s Chemical Management Program, involves pre-clinical studies on the effect of phthalates (used in the manufacture of plastics) on human health.