UCLA receives $21 million grant to study health effects of Aliso Canyon gas leak

An aerial view of Aliso Canyon
By Vanessa Villafuerte
2 min read

A UCLA research team has received a five-year, $21 million grant from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to study the health consequences of the 2015–16 Aliso Canyon gas leak disaster. 

A multidisciplinary team of scientists, public health experts and health care practitioners will study the devastating gas blowout, which was the largest underground gas storage facility disaster in U.S. history. Over a period of nearly four months, an estimated 109,000 metric tons of methane, oil and gas constituents were released into the atmosphere. 

At the time, roughly 232,200 people lived within a five-mile radius of the facility, which is in the northwest San Fernando Valley. Residents reported foul odors and oily mists and said they experienced a range of symptoms, including headaches, nausea, vomiting, nose bleeds, coughing and irritation of the eyes, nose and throat.

The study’s principal investigators are Michael Jerrett, a professor of environmental health sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, and Honghu Liu, chair of the section of public and population health at the UCLA School of Dentistry and a professor at the Fielding School and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Read more about the study on the UCLA Public Health website.

Those leading the Health Study include:

  • Dr. Michael Jerrett, PhD, PI and Exposure Core Lead, Director of the UCLA Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH), Co-Director of the UCLA Center for Healthy Climate Solutions, and Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health;
  • Dr. Honghu Liu, PhD, PI and Data & Statistical Analysis Core Lead, Professor and Chair of the Section of Public and Population Health at the UCLA School of Dentistry, and Professor at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and David Geffen School of Medicine;
  • Dr. Nadereh Pourat, PhD, Project Manager, Program Administration Core Lead, Director of the Health Economics and Evaluation Research (HEER) Program at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR), and Professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health;
  • Dr. Jesus Araujo, MD, PhD, Health and Well-being Core Co-Lead and Professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and David Geffen School of Medicine;
  • Dr. Wendie Robbins, RN, PhD, Health and Well-being Core Co-Lead and Professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and UCLA School of Nursing.
  • Dr. David Eisenman, MD, Community Stakeholders Communications Core Lead, Co- Director in the UCLA Healthy Climate Solutions Center, and Professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and David Geffen School of Medicine; and
  • Dr. Diane A. Garcia-Gonzales, PhD, an air quality and climate change scientist at the UCLA Center for Healthy Climate Solutions.

Original Article: "UCLA receives $21 million grant to study health effects of Aliso Canyon gas leak"