Environmental Leadership Program

Peter James is a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health and the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. His research focuses on the impact of the built environment on health, spanning from issues of building materials and components of building design to aspects of transportation and planning and how these features influence health and health behaviors. Peter earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Pennsylvania in Earth and Environmental Sciences and the History and Sociology of Science. He holds a Master of Health Sciences degree in Environmental Health Sciences from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he wrote his thesis on the health impacts of urban form. He has worked as an environmental consultant preparing environmental impact assessments and has conducted literature reviews on health issues for the Institute of Medicine. In 2007, Peter aided in a project in Peru that used building engineering methods to reduce the transmission of tuberculosis in hospitals. While his past research focuses on the effects of indoor environmental quality and exposures and their impact on health symptoms, allergies, and asthma, Peter's dissertation will focus on the role of urban form in impacting both physical activity and exposure to air pollution. He is also one of the founding members of the Interdisciplinary Consortium on Urban Planning and Public Health, a coalition of students, researchers, and professionals in public health and planning that aims to aid stakeholders and policymakers in creating healthy communities and cities.