The Exposome in Children’s Health: Environment, Development and Disease

Dr. Konstantinos C. Makris is a full professor of environmental health and supervises the Water and Health laboratory at the Cyprus International Institute for Environmental and Public Health. He was an adjunct assistant professor of environmental health in the Department of Environmental Health, Harvard University (2009-2015). His research team aims to reduce population health risks attributed to environmental contaminants found in drinking water and other environmental media. His team utilizes exposomic tools in population studies across Cyprus, Greece, France, Kuwait, the Netherlands, and Norway. He leads the CHILDREN_FIRST  study focused on understanding the temporal evolution of the human exposome as it shapes children’s growth and development.

His laboratory has successfully received external funding of from the EU, the Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation, NIEHS and Harvard University. He was one of two researchers who conducted the brain cancer cluster investigation around the Astrasol plant emitting dichloromethane in Cyprus. He was invited by the Environment and Health Committee of the Cyprus Parliament to provide technical evidence on the health consequences of the surrounding populations following the tragedy / explosion in Mari, Cyprus and has also served as a member of the scientific advisory committee to the Ministry of Health about arsenic exposures in Cyprus. He is also a member of the European Council of ISEE.