About the Lab
The Oluyomi Lab is interested in understanding the impact of non-chemical (e.g., neighborhood characteristics) and chemical (e.g., air quality) environmental stressors on health and health behavior; investigating the pathways through which these stressors impact health outcomes; and examining how social forces create disparities in the distribution of both environmental stressors and health outcomes. Across research interests and activities, the Lab emphasizes the significance of place through spatial epidemiology and geographic information system (GIS) approaches, mainly through the cross-departmental Biomedical Geospatial Analytics and Modeling Lab (BioGeo Lab).
The Biomedical Geospatial Analytics and Modeling Lab (BioGeo Lab), led by Dr. Abiodun Oluyomi, is organized across several Baylor entities.
Selected Research Studies
Environmental Health Outcomes Research among Hurricane Harvey Survivors
The primary goal of this disaster-driven study is to evaluate personal chemical and other environmental exposures, biomarkers including microbiome samples, and health at multiple times after Hurricane Harvey, enrolling participants from significantly different socioeconomic and racial areas of the Houston region that experienced different patterns of flooding, displacement and remediation.
Environmental Exposures, Health and Resilience before and after Hurricane Harvey in a Houston-Area Cohort of African American Adults with Poorly Controlled Asthma
The primary goal of this study is to assess the effect of Hurricane Harvey on African-American adults with poorly controlled asthma. Study will assemble extensive pre/post Harvey health and environmental exposure data; assess pre/post Harvey biological specimen for fungal and bacterial load using qPCR; and use geospatial analytic techniques to assess the role of Harvey-related neighborhood disruption on health and resilience.
The Houston “Breathe Easy” Healthy Homes-Based Model for Multifamily Rental Communities
The first goal is to analyze data and lessons learned from two recently completed studies by the same research team and use the findings to refine a “Healthy Homes”-based protocol for low income, multifamily housing residents with asthma. The second goal is to implement an onsite clinically-driven “Healthy Homes”-based pragmatic clinical trial for 100 asthmatics at three communities.
Selected Projects/Analysis Using the BioGeo Lab Expertise
• CoVPN 5002: SARS-CoV-2 Prevalence Study in the US; Houston Site (Baylor: Medicine, Family and Community Medicine, Molecular Virology and Microbiology)
• Geospatial analysis and the COVID-19 pandemic in Houston area and Texas (Baylor: Medicine, Molecular Virology and Microbiology, School of Tropical Medicine)
• Geographic disparities in the social determinants of health and HIV-driven risk factors for non-aids defining cancers (Baylor: VA Health Services Research)
• Reducing disparities in the risk of hepatocellular cancer in Texas (Baylor: Medicine)
• Understanding the geospatial aspects of childhood cancers in Texas (Baylor: Texas Children’s Hospital)
• Prevalence and correlates of workplace violence in outpatient physician clinics (Baylor: Texas Children’s Hospital)
Publications
Training Opportunities
A GIS course that reinforced Joseph Kerski's working definition of spatial thinking as it applies to the healthcare field. Inaugural session held Summer 2018; next session planned for Summer 2021.
