Jen Runkle
Senior Research Scholar
Bio
Dr. Jennifer Runkle is an Environmental Epidemiologist with wide-ranging experience translating population-based science into action-based solutions for a variety of stakeholders. She is engaged in a range of research projects focused on issues at the nexus of climate and human health. She also supports interagency research activities as the liaison between NOAA NCEI and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Runkle joined NCICS in November 2014 as a member of the Assessments Technical Support Unit. She was an editor and author for the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s report entitled The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States, which was released in 2016, and for the NOAA State Climate Summaries.
Her research interests include examining the health effects of climate change and variability, with particular interest in characterizing localized impacts for vulnerable populations such as pregnant women and outdoor workers. She is interested in advancing the science around how social and environmental factors work independently and jointly to influence climate-health outcome associations and using this information to identify community-level pathways to resilience.
Research topic areas include weather-related disasters, coastal community resilience, occupational health and safety, reproductive health, and mental health and well-being.
Dr. Runkle holds an MSPH and PhD in environmental epidemiology from the University of South Carolina and completed postdoctoral training in environmental and occupational epidemiology at Emory University.
Publications
- A spatial analysis of power-dependent medical equipment and extreme weather risk in the southeastern United States (vol 95, 103844, 2023) , INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISASTER RISK REDUCTION (2024)
- Association of Psychiatric Emergency Visits and Warm Ambient Temperature during Pregnancy: A Time-Stratified Case-Crossover Study , ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES (2024)
- Crisis response in Texas youth impacted by Hurricane Harvey: A difference-in-differences analysis , JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS (2024)
- Disparities in spatiotemporal clustering of maternal mental health conditions before and during the COVID-19 pandemic , HEALTH & PLACE (2024)
- Impacts of compounding drought and heatwave events on child mental health: insights from a spatial clustering analysis , DISCOVER MENTAL HEALTH (2024)
- Short-term changes in mental health help-seeking behaviors following exposure to multiple social stressors and a natural disaster , SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE (2024)
- A difference-in difference analysis of the South Carolina 2015 extreme floods and the association with maternal health , INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISASTER RISK REDUCTION (2023)
- A spatial analysis of power-dependent medical equipment and extreme weather risk in the southeastern United States , INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISASTER RISK REDUCTION (2023)
- Acute Health Effects of Wildfire Smoke Exposure During a Compound Event: A Case-Crossover Study of the 2016 Great Smoky Mountain Wildfires , GEOHEALTH (2023)
- Assessing the relationship between cyanobacterial blooms and respiratory-related hospital visits: Green bay, Wisconsin 2017-2019 , INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYGIENE AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH (2023)