A pilot study to determine the impact of prescribed burns on indoor air quality and associated health impacts for residents

Bushfire smoke poses a significant threat to human health, especially respiratory, cardiovascular, and mental health. The primary management tool to reduce the risk of bushfire in urban areas are prescribed burns, which provide a useful proxy measure of bushfire smoke. This talk will discuss a new study examining exposure to bushfire smoke and the early results emerging from pilot work.

Dr Dwan Vilcins is the Group Leader of Environmental Epidemiology at the Children’s Health and Environment Program at The University of Queensland. Dr Vilcins’ work explores the effect of environmental exposures on children’s health, with a current focus on air pollution, environmentally persistent free radicals, green space and phthalates. In addition to her PhD and Masters of Public Health, Dr Vilcins has a background in nutrition. Currently Dr Vilcins is a junior board advisory member for the Pacific Basin Consortium for Environment and Health, an advisor to Breath Melbourne, and is an advocate for the Greener Spaces Better Places initiative.