Northeastern University · EngineeringChild Health and Environmental Impacts Lab
Akram N Alshawabkeh · Boston, Massachusetts
Research Focus
Dr. Akram Alshawabkeh's lab focuses on the impact of environmental factors on child health and development, especially in Puerto Rico. They study how exposures during pregnancy and early childhood can affect obesity, neurodevelopment, and reproductive health. By gathering data and biological samples from a large cohort of children and pregnant women, the team aims to inform public health policies and interventions in the U.S.
environmental exposureschild healthpregnancyneurodevelopmentobesityreproductive healthbiological samplespublic healthlongitudinal studiesECHO Consortium
Research Aims
4AIM 01Examine the influence of environmental factors on maternal and child diet and obesity.
AIM 02Determine the relationship between chemical exposures during pregnancy and early childhood with neurodevelopment outcomes.
AIM 03Collect and follow up biospecimens from a large cohort of children in Puerto Rico.
AIM 04Recruit additional pregnant participants to expand the study cohort.
Skills the Lab Values
data collectionbiostatisticsenvironmental samplinglongitudinal study designepidemiologyclinical research methodsbioethicsparticipant recruitmentdietary assessmentdata analysis techniques
Output against the department
Publications473top 12% of dept.33rd of 278
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations16ktop 26% of dept.71st of 278
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.