Kevin Cromar & Lars Perlmutt: Air Quality Indices

Kevin Cromar, PhD, is the Director of the Health, Environment, and Policy program at the Marron Institute of Urban Management and an Associate Professor of Environmental Medicine and Population Health at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. His research focuses on the health impacts of air pollution and climate change, with an emphasis on generating the knowledge needed to inform better public decision-making. A recognized expert in environmental health policy, his work has directly contributed to energy, transportation, and environmental policy improvements at the local, national, and international levels.

Cromar has provided leadership and professional service through his roles as a member of the WHO Global Air Pollution and Health Technical Advisory Group (GAPH-TAG), as the U.S. lead for the WMO Vegetative Fire and Smoke Pollution Warning and Advisory System Health Working Group, and as a member of NASA’s Health and Air Quality Applied Science Team (HAQAST). He has also led policy efforts through co-chairing the American Thoracic Society’s Environmental Health Policy Committee, working as a research fellow at the Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU School of Law, and fulfilling direct regulatory responsibilities as a member of the Utah Air Quality Board.

Cromar actively engages in international capacity-building projects across South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia, collaborating with local environmental and health agencies to strengthen their decision-making frameworks. His work includes direct collaboration with federal and international agencies—such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of State, UNICEF, and UNEP—to advance evidence-based environmental health policies domestically and worldwide.

Lars Perlmutt is a Research Scholar at the New York University Marron Institute of Urban Management. As an Environmental Health Scientist, he is focused on epidemiological studies of human populations and the health effects associated with exposure to air pollution. His current research includes developing a US-based nationwide multi-pollutant air quality index.  While a doctoral student at NYU, Perlmutt was awarded a scholarship through the Mid-Atlantic States Section of the Air and Waste Management Association Air Pollution Educational and Research Grant Program (APERG) (2013).  In 2014, Perlmutt was awarded an outstanding student poster award at the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology Annual Meeting (2014).  Previously, Perlmutt worked for the Environmental Protection Agency as part of a team investigating and applying publicly available tools to Environmental Justice research.   Perlmutt holds a Ph.D in Environmental Health Science from New York University, an MSPH in Environmental Health Science from UNC-CH and a BA in Environmental Studies from UNC-CH.