Dr. Alexandra Schneider

Dr. rer. biol. hum, Dipl.-Met., MPH postgrad.

Tel.: +49 (0)89-3187-3512
Fax: +49 (0)89-3187-3380
alexandra.schneider@helmholtz-muenchen.de


Education

• 1990 – 1998: Study of Meteorology at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany (Special field: Human biometeorology)
  
• Master of Science in Meteorology
  Master thesis: "Influence of weather on endurance capacity in healthy subjects”
  
• 1995: Summer Session "Applied Numerical Methods” and "Statistics” at UCLA, California, USA
  
• 2001 – 2003: Postgraduate Study of Epidemiology and Public Health at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany: Master of Public Health postgrad.
  Master thesis: "Repolarization changes induced by air pollution in ischemic heart disease patients” (at GSF, Neuherberg, Germany: EPA-STAR study)
  
• 2002: Licence for practicing climatic therapy
• 2004: Workshop on Climate and Health at NCAR, Boulder, Colorado, USA
• 2004: PhD in Human Biology at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany (Institute of Medical Balneology and Climatology)
  PhD thesis: "Influence of weather on endurance capacity in subjects with coronary heart disease – a timeseries analysis”
  

Experience

• 1994 – 1999: Free assistant in a private weather forecast company in Munich, Germany
• 1999: Assistant author of a meteorology book ("Das große Buch vom Wetter”)
• 1999 – 2000: Private teacher for maths and physics in Munich, Germany
• 2000 – 2001: Research assistant at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (Institute of Medical Balneology and Climatology): "Risk and Benefit of High Altitude”
• Since 2002: Lectures on climatic therapy for physicians in various therapy centers in Germany
• 2003 – 2004: Research assistant at GSF, Neuherberg, Germany, for AIRGENE study
• 2003 – 2008: Lectures on biometry for MPH-students at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany 
• Since 2004: Post Doctoral Fellow at Helmholtz Zentrum München, Germany (until December 2007 known as GSF, Neuherberg, Germany)
• 2005 – 2007:: Lectures on environmental epidemiology at the Private University for Health Sciences in Hall, Austria
• July – October 2006, May 2007, February 2008, October – November 2008: Visiting Scientist at the Human Studies Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
• Since 2009: Lectures on environmental epidemiology for MPH- and MScEpi-students at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany
  

Awards

• 2003 "Bavarian Public Health Lion” for best master thesis
• 2004 "GMDS Förderpreis Epidemiologie”

Research interests

My research interest splits in two different fields. First of all, I am very interested in the influence of weather and climate changes (single parameters like air temperature as well as whole weather classes) on human health (MOHIT), which is especially in Munich a very interesting topic because of the geographical and meteorological influence of the Alps. Secondly, I'm looking forward to some new research results in the field of gaseous and particulate matter air pollution and its influence on the human organism. The center of my research is the reaction of the heart (ECG analysis) and the endothelial function on fine and ultrafine particles exposure (EPA-STAR study I + II, AIRGENE study, DEPS study). Also gene-environment interactions are becoming a more important part of my work. Moreover, the influence of noise on health outcomes is one of my latest fields of interest. In addition, I enjoy learning new statistical techniques and methods for analyzing the data. Also, I love to give some lectures because I think this is a really important part of research work and should be more emphasized in Germany.

Research projects

EPA STAR 1: "Inflammatory response and cardiovascular risk factors in elderly subjects with angina pectoris or COPD in association with fine and ultrafine particles"
(www2.envmed.rochester.edu/envmed/pmc/indexpmc.html)

• Data analysis and publication

EPA STAR 2: "Source-specific health effects of ultrafine and fine particles"
(www2.envmed.rochester.edu/envmed/pmc/indexpmc.html)

• Project management
• Data analysis and publication

AIRGENE: "Air pollution and inflammatory response in myocardial infarction survivors: gene-environment interaction in a high risk group"

• Coordination of data management
• Data analysis and publication

DEPS: "Diabetes and the Environement Panel Study" in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

• Data analysis and publication in cooperation with U.S. EPA

MOHIT: "Mortality, myocardial infarction and air temperature in Bavaria"

• Project management (PI)
• Data analysis and publication

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