Taehyun Roh

Taehyun Roh’s research interests are environmental epidemiology, water quality, public health interventions, global health, chronic disease, children’s health and toxicology. He is an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the School of Public Health. He has received multiple grants for his research that has dealt heavily with arsenic exposure from drinking water and the correlation to disease, particularly in cancers. His grants include the Houston Methodist Cancer Center (HMCC) Research Innovation Award, the HMCC Community Outreach and Engagement Grant, and the Texas A&M Center for Environmental Health Research (TiCER) Pilot Grant to promote cancer prevention projects for underserved populations. The recent coronavirus pandemic has broadened Roh's scope, and he has been studying the link between water contaminants and COVID-19. He received a National Institutes of Health P30 grant through TiCER that aims to nucleate research and translational activities of faculty trainees around the overarching theme of “Enhancing Public Health by Identifying Understanding and Reducing Adverse Environmental Health Risks.” Roh and his co-principal investigator are investigating whether exposure to water contaminants such as arsenic is associated with an increased risk of COVID-19 deaths. He recently received another grant, the Center for Health and Nature Innovation Award, to examine the effectiveness of indoor hydroponic gardening systems to improve mental stress and the quality of life in cancer patients and their caregivers. Roh received a bachelor’s in pharmacy and master’s in pharmacy with a focus on toxicology, both from Sungkyunkwan University in Korea. He then went on to receive his Ph.D. in Human Toxicology from the University of Iowa and completed a postdoctoral scholar appointment with the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health.