News

Time

Avoid turning on your fireplace, burning a candle, or frying food during the wildfire crisis. All can release chemicals and contribute to air pollution, says Jun Wu, professor of environmental and occupational health at the UC Irvine Joe C. Wen School of Population and Public Health. “It’s already hard for us to clean out the air because of all the fires, and all these particles penetrating into the indoors,” she says. “Think about your lungs and your body as a system that can handle a certain amount of environmental stressors and insulating chemicals.” By generating additional air pollutants, you’ll be putting an even greater burden on your systems, she says, which can take a toll on health.

January 14, 2025

Medical XPress

A new study led by the University of California, Irvine, found that exposure to fine particulate matter … and related elements, such as black carbon and nitrates, during pregnancy significantly increase the odds of spontaneous preterm birth, a major threat to maternal and fetal health. Corresponding author, Jun Wu, Ph.D., professor of environmental and occupational health at UC Irvine Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health, collaborated with researchers at Kaiser Permanente in Southern California and other institutions to publish their findings in JAMA Network Open.

November 14, 2024

KABC

[July 5 is] “one of the most polluted days of the year. It can worsen people’s health conditions, including asthma, children’s outcomes and pregnancy outcomes,” said Jun Wu, professor of Environmental & Occupational Health, UC Irvine Program in Public Health.

July 5, 2024

Time

There are a variety of protective steps you can take, says Jun Wu, a professor of environmental and occupational health at the University of California, Irvine’s program in public health. (Wu has researched fireworks-related spikes in particulate matter.) If fireworks are being set off in your vicinity, close your windows and doors, she suggests.

June 27, 2024

Verywell Health

Jun Wu, PhD, a professor of environmental and occupational health at the University of California-Irvine, said that cooling shelters are extremely limited in availability, and not everyone can get easy access to them.

June 11, 2024

UCI Public Health Newsletter

Wu and team examined nearly 390,000 electronic health records, dated from 2008 to 2017, from Kaiser Permanente Southern California to examine the associations between gestational hypertension (GH) and preeclampsia and eclampsia (PE-E) in pregnancy and exposure to PM2.5 and its components to identify windows of susceptibility during pregnancy.

May 21, 2024

One World, One Health

A team of researchers in California recently linked air pollution to depression during and after pregnancy. That’s dangerous to both mothers and their babies, explains Dr. Jun Wu, the team’s principal investigator and a Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health at the University of California Irvine.

February 13, 2024

EHN

Jun Wu, an environmental health scientist at the University of California, Irvine ... published a study that found an association between high levels of air pollution and increased rates of postpartum depression ... Wu explained that it is challenging to study postpartum depression because new parents don't always seek help due to stress, shame, a lack of knowledge and prioritizing their babies over themselves, so the condition, which affects 10-20% of people after giving birth up to three years postpartum, often goes under-diagnosed.

February 1, 2024

PopSugar

Most vacuum-insulated reusable water bottles use lead soldering because it's the easiest and cheapest method, says Jun Wu, PhD, a professor of environmental and occupational health at UC Irvine Public Health. "It's not just Stanley." That said, the lead solder is completely enclosed by stainless steel and should not come in contact with your drink, Dr. Wu says. "The risk of lead exposure is really low unless the protective cover is missing or impaired," she explains.

January 26, 2024

NIEHS

Mothers experiencing long-term exposure to air pollution during and after childbirth have an increased risk of postpartum depression (PPD), according to NIEHS-funded research. The study is one of the first to examine the relationship between air pollution and this major depressive disorder.

January 2024

Washington Post

Much of the pollution from fireworks comes from those ignited in people’s backyards or on streets, not necessarily from grand public displays, said Jun Wu, an environmental health scientist at the University of California at Irvine. In a 2021 study, Wu and her colleagues found that California communities with policies restricting street-level fireworks saw noticeably less pollution compared with those that didn’t.

July 3, 2023

ConsumerAffairs

“Further, wildfire smoke could lead to adverse mental health outcomes such as anxiety and depression, Jun Wu, a professor of environmental and occupational health at the University of California, Irvine, told us. “Finally, some studies suggest that fine particulate matter from wildfire-specific sources might pose a greater threat to human health than that from other air pollution sources.”

June 9, 2023

Giddy

Nature may also alleviate "directed attention fatigue" (DAF) through "effortless attention," such as reflecting on water bubbling over rocks in a stream or clouds moving across the sky, said Jun Wu, Ph.D., a senior researcher involved with the study and a professor at the University of California, Irvine. … Wu said that physical activity may be particularly important for postpartum people, who tend to grapple with multiple health challenges. "For postpartum women, physical activity can improve mood, reduce depression and anxiety, maintain cardiorespiratory fitness, improve weight control and promote weight loss," Wu said.

June 5, 2023

NIEHS

Exposure to green space and increased physical activity may lower a mother’s risk of postpartum depression (PPD), NIEHS-funded researchers found. Approximately 13% of U.S. mothers experience PPD, which, if left untreated, can harm maternal health and may cause sleeping, eating, and behavioral problems for their babies.

June 2023

Spectrum News 1

She launched a first-of-its-kind epidemiological study to examine the link between urban forestry — the trees planted in open spaces and on city streets — and the prevalence of postpartum depression. She recently published a scientific paper titled “The Association Between Urban Green Space and Postpartum Depression.”

May 1, 2023

Well+Good

In her recent study, Jun Wu, PhD, professor of environmental and occupational health at University of California, Irvine, found that being close to green spaces reduces the risk of postpartum depression. “One of the most important factors was the trees on their street,” says Dr. Wu. “We looked at people’s proximity to parks, but that variable was less important than having a straight view to a green space.”

April 9, 2023

HealthDay

New moms who live on tree-lined streets may be somewhat less vulnerable to postpartum depression, according to a new study — the latest to link "green space" to better mental health. … The study also points to one reason: physical activity. It's a lot easier to go out for a walk when you live in a tree-lined neighborhood, with its built-in shade and better air quality. And for new mothers, that may be especially important, said senior researcher Jun Wu, a professor at the University of California, Irvine. They have little time and are likely exhausted, Wu said, and getting to the park, especially if they have to drive, might be out of the question. Stepping outside into the fresh air and shade is much more doable, she suggested.

March 9, 2023

Academic Minute

Nature or nurture? Today on The Academic Minute: Jun Wu, professor of environment and occupational health at the University of California, Irvine program in public health, says your environment can play a role in when nurturing begins.

November 28, 2022

UCI news

Pregnant women exposed to a green space environment in a virtual reality setting experienced decreases in blood pressure and improvements in mental health and well-being, according to a study led by the University of California, Irvine. In a paper recently published in Environmental Research, co-corresponding author Jun Wu, Ph.D., professor of environmental and occupational health in UCI’s Program in Public Health, examined the short-term responses of urban pregnant women exposed to a virtual reality green space.

November 17, 2022

Healthline

Contamination may occur “from flooding of wastewater treatment facilities or sewage overflow, street run-offs and agricultural run-offs, and so on,” explained Wu — leading to a spread of pathogens, viruses, and bacteria.

September 30, 2022

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

A community organization in Santa Ana, California, has partnered with researchers at the University of California, Irvine to characterize disparities in local air pollution monitoring. Their disparities in access to air quality sensors and a community-engaged project to overcome gaps in air monitoring data are described in papers published in early 2022.

September 9, 2022

UCI News

Not long ago, smog was as much a part of the Southern California landscape as the Hollywood sign it sometimes obscured. Though less visible and greatly diminished, air pollution is still a part of our lives, says Jun Wu, a UCI professor of public health in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health.

July 20, 2022

The 19th

Worsening birth outcomes are not the only concern. Jun Wu, a public health professor at the University of California, Irvine has been studying other risks pregnant people might face due to a mix of air pollutants. “What we found is that for women living in areas with higher air pollution, the risk of developing gestational diabetes is higher,” she said. Their babies are also at higher risk of being born preterm. … In southern California one of the major sources of that pollution is traffic, she said.

April 20, 2022

Healthline

According to the study, more than 170 million U.S. people alive today were exposed to high lead levels during their childhood. That includes millions exposed to at least five times the currently allowable limit of lead exposure.

March 15, 2022

Orange Coast Magazine

Collaborating with local communities is very important because most previous research in academia focuses on finding problems instead of really solving problems. Communities have the lived experience, and that is essential in solving the problems. … By continuing to work on this model, I hope the center will be a regional leader in Southern California in promoting health equity and environmental justice.

March 8, 2022

UCI News

“Understanding how socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity are correlated with air pollution is crucial to addressing environmental injustice,” says the study’s corresponding author, Jun Wu, professor of environmental and occupational health in UCI’s Program in Public Health. “Through affordable prices, flexibility of deployment and ease of maintenance, low-cost sensors can increase broader awareness of air pollution, inform citizens and promote further scientific research.”

March 3, 2022

Voice of OC

Exposure to air pollution and their related adverse health outcomes are inequitably distributed in low-income communities of color. … an unpublished UC Irvine study based on a Master’s thesis project found that the likelihood of having an asthma diagnosis increased by 20% for children living closest to the industrial zone compared to those who lived farther away from the industrial zone, indicating that industrial zone may be an important contributor to children’s asthma.

January 30, 2022

UCI Public Health Newsletter

It’s no secret that climate change has been described as the greatest global health threat of the 21st century. This crisis is impacting people in real ways—right now.

October 29, 2021

Daily Pilot

“Our main goal is to establish an environmentally just society where Black and other disadvantaged communities will thrive with health equity,” Wu said.

October 21, 2021

Daily Pilot

The climate is changing, and to a certain extent there’s no going back. We humans have opened Pandora’s Box, and now we are reaping the consequences through the extreme events we are witnessing in real time: massive hurricanes, wildfires, floods, heat waves and droughts.

September 15, 2021

National Geographic

For the new study, the UC Irvine-based team of researchers took advantage of the recent proliferation of home air-quality monitors to explore how Fourth of July fireworks pollution varies across communities in California. The scientists analyzed publicly crowdsourced data from 751 commercial PurpleAir sensors in private residences across the state during June and July of 2019 and 2020.

July 2, 2021

Forbes

The study by environmental health researchers at the University of California found that there was a leap in “extremely high-particulate-matter” air pollution during the holiday season between late June and early July.

July 2, 2021

Daily Pilot

Household fireworks spread hazardous materials into the air, especially in minority and lower socioeconomic communities in Southern California, UC Irvine researchers have found.

July 1, 2021

UCI News

In a paper published recently in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, UCI researchers show that elderly and low-income residents have suffered a disproportionate share of the fires’ impacts.

May 30, 2021

National Geographic

“Some of the associations are hidden unless you look at the very local scale,” says Jun Wu, an atmospheric chemist at the University of California, Irvine. She points to historical influences, like the decisions to site freeways through communities of color, which contribute to the extra burden of heat and pollution for some heavily affected areas today.

May 25, 2021

Voice of OC

The city of Irvine, widely advertised as the safest city in America, has a problem with chemical emissions in its own backyard according to a new study conducted by UC Irvine scientists. A factory owned by All American Asphalt sits to the northeast of the city, just half a mile away from homes and schools above the Rattlesnake Reservoir.

February 4, 2021

Voice of OC

A group of UCI scientists and the South Coast Air Quality Management District announced this week they would consider teaming up on efforts to study fumes from an asphalt plant in Irvine that residents say is affecting their quality of life.

March 5, 2021