Published on: Aug 04, 2025
Antonella Zanobetti, an environmental epidemiologist and principal research scientist at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, was leading pioneering studies on how environmental factors such as air pollution and heat contribute to deadly neurological and cardiovascular diseases. But in May, the Trump administration’s mass cancellation of Harvard research grants brought three of her projects to an abrupt halt.
Preliminary evidence suggests that air pollution may damage the brain, Zanobetti said. Her research aimed to explore potential links between environmental exposures and increased dementia risk, while also examining whether factors like green space could provide protection. In 2020, she led the first nationwide study on air pollution’s impact on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
We need to finish this work, Zanobetti stressed. “Understanding the environmental factors that influence hospitalizations for neurological disorders is critical to public health.
With aging populations and industrialization driving up rates of neurological illness, the stakes are high. Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S., and Parkinson’s cases are projected to surpass 12 million globally by 2040.
One halted study involved analyzing Medicare and Medicaid data to determine whether long-term air pollution exposure raises hospitalization risks for Alzheimer’s and related dementias. The team was also developing statistical methods to address challenges such as misclassified outcomes and was investigating how heat affects hospitalization rates.
Another project, co-led by Danielle Braun, sought to examine the combined effects of high temperatures and air pollutants on Parkinson’s hospitalizations. A third, led with Petros Koutrakis, aimed to be the first to measure how particle radioactivity—ionizing radiation attached to fine particulate pollution—influences heart disease risk.
Zanobetti’s earlier findings have already shaped Environmental Protection Agency regulations, helping set stricter national air quality standards for fine particulate matter. Her work has been used to justify stronger federal rules to reduce health risks from air pollution.
The canceled grants were designed to generate evidence linking environmental hazards to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and cardiovascular disease—research that could guide future public health policy.
It’s devastating to see our progress stopped,” Zanobetti said. “There is so much left to uncover, and now we can’t do it.
Source: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2025/08/is-dirty-air-driving-up-dementia-rates/
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