By: Juan Carlos Figueroa and Carolina Rendón
Our evidence made it to Munich! From August 30 to September 2, 2026, the SALURBAL-Climate team took part in ISEE 2026, one of the most highly regarded academic conferences in environmental epidemiology. This year's theme was Understanding and Responding to Global and Local Challenges: Environmental Epidemiology in a Changing World.
SALURBAL-Climate takes part in these gatherings with several early-career researchers—doctoral students and people at the start of their careers—who present the research they are carrying out within the project and connect with academics and researchers from around the world.
A Symposium on Emerging Threats
On September 2, SALURBAL-Climate evidence was presented at the symposium Emerging Climate-Health Threats in Latin American Cities, which drew around 50 attendees. The session was co-chaired by Josiah Kephart (Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and the Urban Health Collaborative at Drexel University) and Nelson Gouveia (SALURBAL-Climate principal investigator at the University of São Paulo, where he is a professor).
The symposium featured the following presentations:
- Diana Rocío Higuera Mendieta, a doctoral student at the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University, presented Educational disparities in extreme temperature-related mortality in 269 Latin American Cities.
- Jinwen Xu, Assistant Professor at Coastal Carolina University, presented The impact of floods on cause-specific hospital visits in 267 Latin American Cities from 2000–2018.
- Ana Lucía Peralta, a doctoral student at the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University, presented Mortality impacts of tropical cyclones in 68 Latin American Cities.
- Josiah Kephart presented A multi-country study of the mortality effects of compound exposures to short-term heat and air pollution in Urban Latin America.
- Salvador Ayala Pizarro, a researcher at the University of Chile and Assistant Professor at Universidad del Desarrollo, presented Population exposure to landscape fire smoke in urban areas: a study of 361 Latin American Cities.
Other Sessions Featuring Our Team
- Juan Carlos Figueroa, a doctoral student in Epidemiology at the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University, presented his work on drought exposure in Latin American cities and its relationship with urban form and landscape. His session drew between 90 and 100 people.
- Salvador Ayala Pizarro presented a poster on exposure to landscape fire smoke in urban settings.
- Astrid Berena Herrera, a postdoctoral researcher at Universidad de los Andes, gave a flash talk on respiratory mortality attributable to non-optimal temperatures in Colombian cities.
An Early Career Perspective
Attendees come from many countries and from every career stage, from master's students to established researchers. For Juan Carlos, taking part has helped him share his research and connect with colleagues who have similar interests.
He also points to a challenge: the conference is held in English. For researchers whose first language is different, presenting evidence in English requires extra effort. This challenge is not unique to Latin America.
From Local to Global
SALURBAL-Climate analyzes a large number of Latin American cities with different levels of vulnerability to climate change. According to Juan Carlos, studying such a wide range of impact scenarios makes the research useful both for cities in the region and for other places around the world interested in urban health.
Thank you to everyone who represented SALURBAL-Climate at ISEE 2026!