B.C. air quality scholarship winners

Ezra Yu is a PhD student in Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia specializing in environmental and cancer epidemiology under the supervision of Dr. Trevor Dummer.

His doctoral research applies Bayesian spatial modeling to integrate environmental and health datasets to examine how the environmental exposome, including air pollution, radon, and asbestos, influences lung cancer risk among non-smokers while accounting for spatial and temporal patterns. His work aims to contribute to a Canadian research hub that serves as an international leader in environmental epidemiology, advancing new methods, training future scholars, and generating evidence that informs air-quality policy.

Beyond academia, he contributes to community engagement through volunteer work in cancer prevention and language translation services supporting immigrant communities, promoting equity in health research and access to public health information.

Aidan Comeau is a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia School of Kinesiology, working under the supervision of Dr. Michael Koehle in the Environmental Physiology Laboratory. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and a Master of Science in Kinesiology from the University of Alberta.

His doctoral research examines how aerobic exercise influences physiological responses to ozone exposure. Through a series of related human exposure studies employing a bespoke air pollutant exposure system of his own design, Aidan seeks to acutely characterize the dose-response relationship for ozone-induced reductions in pulmonary function. Building on this work, he will also investigate how aerobic exercise interacts with ozone exposure to influence the mechanics of breathing.

Following the completion of his PhD, Aidan aims to pursue an academic career that integrates his passion for teaching and research within the field of environmental physiology.