Kai Chen
kaichenyale.bsky.social
Kai Chen
@kaichenyale.bsky.social
Associate Professor @YaleSPH @YaleDeptEHS. #Humboldtian Working on #ClimateChange, #AirPollution, and public health.
Reposted by Kai Chen
🚨 NEW: Climate change is already causing 30,000 deaths per year - a global annual economic loss of $100-350B USD - but the true damage is probably 10x higher. Out TODAY in Nature Climate Change: the first systematic look at the science of "health impact attribution" 🔓 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
September 17, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Reposted by Kai Chen
#NIH is hanging by a thread. The #CDC has been decimated. #RFK Jr. and Russell #Vought are psychopaths--I don't say this frivolously--they are cold, calculating, inflicting violence on millions through public policy. It is where we are right now. These men are not normal. 1/
August 28, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Reposted by Kai Chen
Something I wish more people understood: part of the point of shock-and-awe grant terminations at NIH and NSF has been to make scientists and university administrators afraid to speak out against the administration. And it's working. But, some of us were never going to get a grant from them anyway.
August 15, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Reposted by Kai Chen
🔴 #THISISCLIMATECHANGE

🔥 Wildfires in Canada—sending smoke into the Northeast U.S.—were fueled by extreme heat, 20°F+ above average for early August.

🌡️ Meanwhile, 53M people in the U.S. Southwest & Mexico are facing extreme heat that’s nearly impossible without climate change.
🧵/6
August 7, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Reposted by Kai Chen
Scoop: The U.S. billion-dollar disaster database is set to return this fall over at @climatecentral.org. They've hired the former NOAA scientist who ran the project for 10+ years www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Researchers Are Resurrecting Billion-Dollar Disaster Tool Trump Killed
Nonprofit Climate Central has hired the scientist behind a key database of costly weather disasters to rebuild it.
www.bloomberg.com
August 5, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Wildfire smoke in New England, please stay safe!
August 5, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Reposted by Kai Chen
The Trump administration is launching a new wave of attacks on universities, and UCLA is the latest target.

My reporting on how the university has been hit and how some of its scientists are responding:
www.science.org/content/arti...
NSF and NIH suspend grants to UCLA
Move follows Trump administration finding that school didn’t effectively combat antisemitism
www.science.org
August 1, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Wildfire smoke and unhealthy air fills the Midwest before spreading to the East

wapo.st/45f1ddo
Wildfire smoke and unhealthy air fills the Midwest before spreading to the East
As has been the case much of the summer, the smoke invasion is targeting the Upper Midwest to Great Lakes. Beyond Thursday, smoke may impact more of the Northeast U.S. through and beyond Friday.
wapo.st
July 31, 2025 at 5:39 PM
In Game-Changing Climate Rollback, E.P.A. Aims to Kill a Bedrock Scientific Finding www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/c...
In Game-Changing Climate Rollback, E.P.A. Aims to Kill a Bedrock Scientific Finding
www.nytimes.com
July 30, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Reposted by Kai Chen
One thing very few people know, even in the climate-health research space, is that - in addition to NIH / NSF / NASA / EPA blocking any new research on climate change and health - all the philanthropies have decided to take NGO-shaped roles rather than fund research, and so they aren't stepping in.
July 29, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Reposted by Kai Chen
🎆NEW RESEARCH OUT
In our new study published in One Earth, we uncovered hard truths about NO2-related health disparities in the U.S. Racial-ethnic minorities were generally more exposed and susceptible. The most affected race-ethnicity group was location-specific.
Disparities in NO2-related health burden prevalent across race-ethnicity and income groups in the United States
Increasing evidence has linked long-term NO2 exposures to adverse health, while current research on the NO2-related health burden rarely assesses exposure and susceptibility disparities jointly. In th...
www.cell.com
July 24, 2025 at 3:13 PM
In ‘blow to the environment,’ EPA begins to dismantle its research office | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
In ‘blow to the environment,’ EPA begins to dismantle its research office
Extensive layoffs could have wide-ranging impacts on conservation and human health
www.science.org
July 22, 2025 at 11:37 PM
🚨 NEW STUDY: Despite falling CA air pollution 1980-2022, relative racial disparities in short-term NO₂ exposure worsened.
➡️ Hispanic/Latino communities faced 3X MORE high-pollution days (>50µg/m³) than White residents in 2020.
Paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.134211
July 21, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Reposted by Kai Chen
Well tonight’s Friday government news dump is horribly depressing- EPA to eliminate their entire research branch (ORD). I’ve been on ORD’s science advisory board the last few years and they do amazing work across climate, air, water and other issue. This sucks www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/c...
E.P.A. Says It Will Eliminate Its Scientific Research Arm
www.nytimes.com
July 18, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Reposted by Kai Chen
Beyond just physical damage and lives lost, floodwaters can cause increased health risks including:
➡️ Diarrhea
➡️ Mold
➡️ Chronic conditions
➡️ Stress and mental health disorders
➡️ Disruption to health care services

Read more ⬇️
abcnews.go.com/Health/texas...
Texas floodwaters can increase health risks that could last for months: Experts
Floodwaters be contaminated with debris as well as high levels of bacteria, chemicals, waste and other pollutants, which can cause prolonged health risks, experts say.
abcnews.go.com
July 15, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Reposted by Kai Chen
NYTimes: Texas Flood Live Updates: Death Toll Tops 100, Including 27 at a Girls’ Camp www.nytimes.com/live/2025/07...
Texas Flood Live Updates: Death Toll Tops 100, Including 27 at a Girls’ Camp
www.nytimes.com
July 7, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Devastating to see over 50 lives lost in Texas floods💔This tragedy reflects a broader pattern our Nature Communications study uncovered:~100 Texans died yearly from flooding—not just from drowning, but injuries, heart, and lung diseases.
@lingzhichu.bsky.social
📊 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
July 6, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Methane-Tracking Satellite Is Lost, in a Blow to Climate Efforts www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/c...
Methane-Tracking Satellite Is Lost, in a Blow to Climate Efforts
www.nytimes.com
July 3, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Reposted by Kai Chen
As US population level health data becomes ever-more unreliable … we are proud to unveil a new resource for families, policy makers, and healthcare providers @yalesph.bsky.social
America's health data system is fragmented, outdated, and hard to access. This slows the response to emerging health threats. PopHIVE unites diverse partners and data in one location, creating a solution for improved public health data for action.

4/5 @meganranney.bsky.social
July 3, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Intense Heat Wave Will Leave the Midwest Sweltering This Weekend www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/w...
Intense Heat Wave Will Leave the Midwest Sweltering This Weekend
www.nytimes.com
June 21, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Reposted by Kai Chen
Judge Young was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. Here he excoriates the Trump Administration's termination of grants at NIH. This is just the start of a process. But it is ground-breaking and good news for today.
🚨 BREAKING: Nearly 4 months the NIH cut its first grants, a judge has ruled that the directives and process that led to cuts are arbitrary and capricious.

"The explanations are bereft of reasoning — virtually in their entirety... unsupported by [facts]."

Each of them are VOID and ILLEGAL, he says.
June 16, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Reposted by Kai Chen
Over the next 25 years, if proposed cuts in NIH funding are made real, “In a population of more than 340 million, this reflects **82 million** fewer years of life.”

In the US alone.

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Cutting the NIH—The $8 Trillion Health Care Catastrophe
This JAMA Forum discusses the recent budget cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH), the effects of these cuts on scientific research and health of individuals in the US, and the prospects for cha...
jamanetwork.com
June 15, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Reposted by Kai Chen
Today's the day when the US government officially throws in the towel on the climate fight. Which means the rest of us have to pick up the slack
www.politico.com/news/2025/06...
EPA to propose rolling back climate rule for power plants Wednesday
It marks an escalation in President Donald Trump's effort to purge climate initiatives from the federal government.
www.politico.com
June 11, 2025 at 11:48 AM