Michelle Turner
Associate Research Professor Environment and Health over the Lifecourse
Michelle C Turner is an Associate Research Professor at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Barcelona, Spain and Ramón y Cajal Fellow. Her primary research interests include environmental and occupational epidemiology, in particular in relation to cancer incidence and mortality outcomes.
She has actively conducted research in both North America and Europe. She has lead several large-scale investigations into the mortality health effects of long-term ambient air pollution exposure. She was elected as Vice-Chair of the 40-country European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action “Coordination and Harmonization of European Occupational Cohorts (OMEGA-NET)” network which sought to optimize the use of occupational, industrial, and population cohorts in Europe and provide networking and training opportunities for new researchers.
She is co-Leader of the Exposome Project for Health and Occupational Research (EPHOR) mega-cohort, working towards large-scale pooling of European cohort studies with information on occupational exposures. She is Secretary of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) AllergoOncology Task force.
She served as Visiting Scientist in the Monographs Program of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) (2019-2021). In 2021, she served as Chair of the Working Group of Human Studies in IARC Monograph meeting: Volume 130 on 1,1,1-Trichloroethane and four other industrial chemicals.
She currently serves as Secretary-Treasurer of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE) (2019-2024).
In 2021, she was awarded the inaugural Epidemiology in Occupational Health (EPICOH) Mid-Career Award for exceptional contribution to the practice of occupational epidemiology. In 2023, she was elected as member of the EPICOH Management Committee.
She currently serves as Expert on the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Global Air Pollution and Health - Technical Advisory Group (GAPH-TAG) Working Group on Health Outcomes / Exposure-Response Functions as well as is Co-Chair of the WHO Technical Advisory Group on Occupational Burden of Disease Estimation (TAG-OBoDE).
Most recently, she has established and serves as Coordinator of the new 5-year Horizon Europe EU-funded INTERCAMBIO project (2024-2028), which seeks to promote mental and physical health of workers in changing work environments due to climate change, implementation of new working practices, and among workers in green jobs.
Lines of research
- Air Pollution
- Cancer
- Climate Change
- Exposome
- Occupation
- Radiation
Main publications
- Pega F, Momen NC, Streicher KN, Leon-Roux M, Neupane S, Schubauer-Berigan MK, Schüz J, Technical Advisory Group on Occupational Burden of Disease Estimation Baker M, Driscoll T, Guseva Canu I, Kiiver HM, Li J, Nwanaji-Enwerem JC, Turner MC, Viegas S, Villeneuve PJ. 2023. Global, regional and national burdens of non-melanoma skin cancer attributable to occupational exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation for 183 countries, 2000–2019: A systematic analysis from the WHO/ILO Joint Estimates of the Work-related Burden of Disease and Injury. Environment International, 181:108226.
- Turner MC, Cogliano V, Guyton K, Madia F, Straif K, Ward EM, Schubauer-Berigan MK. 2023. Research recommendations for selected IARC-classified agents: Impact and lessons learned. Environmental Health Perspectives, 131:105001.
- Turner MC, Andersen ZJ, Neira M, Krzyzanowski M, Malmqvist E, González Ortiz A, Kiesewetter G, Katsouyanni K, Brunekreef B, Melén E, Ljungman P, Tolotto M, Forastiere F, Dendale P, Price R, Bakke O, Reichert S, Hoek G, Pershagen G, Peters A, Querol X, Gerometta A, Samoli E, Markevych I, Basthiste R, Khreis H, Pant P, Nieuwenhuijsen M, Sacks JD, Hansen K, Lymes T, Stauffer A, Fuller GW, Boogaard H, Hoffmann B. 2023. Clean air in Europe for all: taking stock of the proposed revision to the Ambient Air Quality Directives. A joint ERS, HEI, and ISEE workshop report. European Respiratory Journal, 62:2301380 [DOI: 10.1183/13993003.01380-2023].
- Turner MC, Andersen ZJ, Baccarelli A, Diver WR, Gapstur SM, Pope III CA, Prada D, Samet J, Thurston G, Cohen A. 2020. Outdoor air pollution and cancer: an overview of the current evidence and public health recommendations. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 70:460–479.
- Turuban M, Kromhout H, Vila J, Vallbona-Vistós M, Baldi I, Turner MC. 2023. Personal exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields in various occupations in Spain and France. Environment International, 180;108156.
