Dr Ariana Zeka

Dr Ariana Zeka is a Lecturer in Epidemiology and Public Health at the Institute. Her research interests are on the health effects of occupational and environmental exposures; advancing epidemiologic methods; exposure assessment and modelling; study of social and economic determinants of health; and policy implications of public health research. She is currently developing research on historical effects of complex political, social and economical systems on health indicators. She is particularly interested on the health determinants in societies in transition.

Qualifications

• 2003-2006 Postdoctoral Fellow in Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
• 2003 Doctor of Science in Epidemiology (ScD), University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA
• 2002 Postdoctoral Fellow in Epidemiology, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyons, France
• 1998 Master of Science in Environmental Sciences and Policy (MSc), University of Manchester, United
• Kingdom/Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
• 1994 Degree in Medicine (Medical Doctor), University of Tirana, Albania

Career

• 2006-date Lecturer in Epidemiology and Public Health Institute for the Environment, Centre for Public Health Research, Brunel University West London
• 2003-2006 Postdoctoral Fellow in Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
• 2002 Postdoctoral Fellow in Epidemiology, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyons, France
• 1998-2003 Research Assistant in Epidemiology, University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA
• 1997-1998 Master Student, University of Manchester, UK/Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
• 1994.1997 Primary Care Physician, University Hospital Tirana, Albania
• Physician volunteer for the remote areas of Albania
• 1994-1995 Medical Internship, University Hospital Tirana, Albania
• 1989-1994 Medical Student, University of Tirana, Albania

Research Interests

Research Activity

Dr Zeka is currently the leader for the Climate and Health module (IE5512), part of the MSc course in Climate Change and Sustainability. She was in the previous years the leader for the Ecosystems Epidemiology module (2007, 2008) taught in the MSc programme at the Institute. She is the leader of the module Environmental Epidemiology for the past three years taught for the Doctor of Public Health programme, at the Graduate School. She is the academic supervisor of a number of postgraduate students from the Institute and the Doctor of Public Health Programme.

Climate and Health (IE5512)

The module is organized around reading and discussion of literature in different topics related to the impact of climate change on health. Module teaching is a combination of round table discussion, student presentations, and lectures.

Here is a list of the topics covered in this module:

• Historical/geological time view of climate change and infectious disease
• Basic Epidemiologic principles. Definition of determinants of population health.
• Global effects of Climate Change: how can we measure adverse health?
• Draught, nutrition, energy, food security and health
• Air quality, climate and health
• The changing patterns of vector-borne diseases, climate and health
• Occupational health and climate change
• Environmental health and climate change (student session)
• Climate, socioeconomic, race and health disparities

Publications

Journal Papers

(2012) Henschel, S., Atkinson, R., Zeka, A., Tertre Le, A., Analitis, A., Katsouyanni, K., Chanel, O., Pascal, M., Forsberg, B., Medina, S. and Goodman, PG., Air pollution interventions and their impact on public health, International Journal of Public Health 57 (5) : 757- 768

(2011) Zeka, A., Gore, R. and Kriebel, D., The two-stage clonal expansion model in occupational cancer epidemiology: Results from three cohort studies, Occupational and Environmental Medicine 68 (8) : 618- 624

(2009) Pascal, M., Goodman, P., Clancy, L., Zeka, A. and Schwartz, J., Excess mortality during heat waves in Ireland (Abstract), Epidemiology 20 (6) : S84-

(2009) Gryparis, A., Paciorek, CJ., Zeka, A., Schwartz, J. and Coull, BA., Measurement error caused by spatial misalignment in environmental epidemiology, Biostatistics 10 (2) : 258- 274 Download publication

(2009) Goodman, PG., Rich, DQ., Zeka, A., Clancy, L. and Dockery, DW., Effect of air pollution controls on black smoke and sulfur dioxide concentrations across Ireland, Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association 59 (2) : 207- 213

(2008) Zeka, A., Melly, SJ. and Schwartz, J., The effects of socioeconomic status and indices of physical environment on reduced birth weight and preterm births in Eastern Massachusetts, Environmental Health 760 Download publication

(2007) Applebaum, KM., Furniss, CS., Zeka, A., Posner, MR., Smith, JF., Bryan, J., Eisen, EA., Peters, ES., McClean, MD. and Kelsey, KT., Lack of association of alcohol and tobacco with HPV16-associated head and neck cancer, Journal of the National Cancer Institute 99 (23) : 1801- 1810

(2007) Franklin, M., Zeka, A. and Schwartz, J., Association between PM2.5 and all-cause and specific-cause mortality in 27 US communities, Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology 17 (3) : 279- 287

(2006) Zeka, A., Schwartz, J., Gryparis, A., Coull, B. and Melly, SJ., Traffic-related and socioeconomic indicators in association with birth defects and infant mortality in eastern Massachusetts between 1996 and 2002 (Abstract), Epidemiology 17 (6) : S421

(2006) Zeka, A., Sullivan, JR., Vokonas, PS., Sparrow, D. and Schwartz, J., Inflammatory markers and particulate air pollution: characterizing the pathway to disease, International Journal of Epidemiology 35 (5) : 1347- 1354

(2006) Zeka, A., Schwartz, J. and Zanobetti, A., Individual-level modifiers of the effects of particulate matter on daily mortality, American Journal of Epidemiology 163 (9) : 849- 859

(2006) Zeka, A., 't Mannetje, A., Zaridze, D., Szeszenia-Dabrowska, N., Rudnai, P., Lissowska, J., Fabiánová, E., Mates, D., Bencko, V., Navratilova, M., Cassidy, A., Janout, V., Travier, N., Fevotte, J., Fletcher, T., Brennan, P. and Boffetta, P., Lung cancer and occupation in nonsmokers: a multicenter case-control study in Europe, Epidemiology 17 (6) : 615- 623

(2005) Zeka, A., Zanobetti, A. and Schwartz, J., Short term effects of particulate matter on cause specific mortality: effects of lags and modification by city characteristics, Occupational and Environmental Medicine 62 (10) : 718- 725

(2004) Zeka, A., Eisen, EA., Kriebel, D., Gore, R. and Wegman, DH., Risk of upper aerodigestive tract cancers in a case-cohort study of autoworkers exposed to metalworking fluids, Occupational and Environmental Medicine 61 (5) : 426- 431

(2004) Schwartz, J., Cavanagh, D., Zanobetti, A. and Zeka, A., Modifiers of risk of extreme temperatures (Abstract), Epidemiology 15 (4) : S95

(2004) Zeka, A. and Schwartz, J., Estimating the independent effects of multiple pollutants in the presence of measurement error: an application of a measurement-error-resistant technique, Environmental Health Perspectives 112 (17) : 1686- 1690 Download publication

(2004) Kriebel, D., Zeka, A., Eisen, EA. and Wegman, DH., Quantitative evaluation of the effects of uncontrolled confounding by alcohol and tobacco in occupational cancer studies, International Journal of Epidemiology 33 (5) : 1040- 1045

(2004) Zanobetti, A., Wellenius, GA., Zeka, A. and Schwartz, J., The effect of particulate air pollution on the risk of myocardial infarction in elderly: a multi-city case-crossover analysis (Abstract), Epidemiology 15 (4) : S21-S22

(2003) Zeka, A., Kriebel, D., Kennedy, SM. and Wegman, DH., Role of underlying pulmonary obstruction in short-term airway response to metal working fluid exposure: A reanalysis, American Journal of Industrial Medicine 43 (3) : 286- 290

(2003) Zeka, A., Gore, R. and Kriebel, D., Effects of alcohol and tobacco on aerodigestive cancer risks: a meta-regression analysis, Cancer Causes and Control 14 (9) : 897- 906