Ruwan Thilakaratne, MPH

Doctoral Student in Epidemiology
University of California, Berkeley

Ruwan Thilakaratne, MPH is an environmental epidemiologist and current doctoral student in Epidemiology, with a designated emphasis in Computational and Genomic Biology, at the University of California, Berkeley's School of Public Health. Ruwan is broadly interested in how early life exposures shape child health and development, the mechanisms of these effects, and the epidemiology of climate change. Advised by Dr. Andres Cardenas at UC Berkeley, he currently studies how early pregnancy exposure to mixtures of heavy metals affects the development of a child's immune system, lungs, and brain within the Project Viva pre-birth cohort, using novel statistical and machine learning methods for analyzing multiple correlated exposures. He was previously a California Epidemiologic Investigation Service (Cal-EIS) Fellow which granted him the opportunity to work with the California Department of Public Health's Environmental Health Investigations Branch on epidemiologic studies spanning a variety of topics, including the health burden associated with wildfires in California, the role of genetic mutations and air pollution in pediatric asthma, and the utility of rapid antigen tests in occupational outbreaks of COVID-19. He also previously worked with California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to study the short-term effects of criteria air pollutants on mental health emergencies in California, and contributed to a landmark report by the agency on the impact of artifical food dyes on children's neurobehavior. Ruwan earned his Master of Public Health degree in Epidemiology & Biostatistics from UC Berkeley.

Presentation(s):

• 1165505 - Wildfires and the Changing Landscape of Air Pollution-Related Health Burden

  Thursday, June 30, 2022
  9:40am – 10:00am PT