Columbia University in the City of New York · Mathematics & StatisticsAir Quality and Neurodegeneration Lab
Robbie M Parks · New York, New York
Research Focus
Dr. Robbie M Parks' lab focuses on understanding how air pollution, particularly fine particulate matter (PM2.5), impacts the development of Lewy body dementia, a serious neurodegenerative disease. They combine large-scale data analysis with animal studies to identify which specific components of air pollution contribute to the disease's pathology. The lab's ultimate goal is to inform public health policies and therapeutic strategies to mitigate the effects of these environmental factors on aging populations.
Lewy Body Dementiaair pollutionparticulate matterneurodegenerationEpidemiologyenvironmental healthdata analysis
Research Aims
3AIM 01Evaluate the long-term effects of total PM2.5 exposure on the risk of Lewy body dementia.
AIM 02Quantify the effects of individual PM2.5 components on dementia risk using causal modeling.
AIM 03Explore how specific PM2.5 components induce neurodegeneration in animal models.
Skills the Lab Values
epidemiological data analysiscausal modelinganimal studieswhole-body exposure systemsstatistical software (e.g., R, SAS)environmental sampling techniquespathology assessmentdata visualization
Output against the department
Publications99bottom 13% of dept.114th of 131
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations1.9kbottom 15% of dept.111th of 131
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.