Ajay Pillarisetti

About

Ajay Pillarisetti is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health. He holds a PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from UC Berkeley, an MPH in Global Environmental Health from Emory University, and a BS in Biology from Emory University. His research focuses on the impacts of household energy use and related behaviors in low- and middle-income countries on air pollution exposure, human health, and climate change. Dr. Pillarisetti has extensive global environmental health research, practice, and capacity building experience across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Environmental science
• Economics
• Environmental health
• Business
• Computer Science
• Natural resource economics
• Environmental protection
• Environmental economics
• Engineering

Selected publications

• Optimizing Exposure Measures in Large-Scale Household Air Pollution Studies: Results from the Multicountry HAPIN Trial

  Environmental Science & Technology · 2025-01-14 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  Repeated measurements of household air pollution may provide better estimates of average exposure but can add to costs and participant burden. In a randomized trial of gas versus biomass cookstoves in four countries, we took supplemental personal 24-h measurements on a 10% subsample for mothers and infants, interspersed between protocol samples. Mothers had up to five postrandomization protocol measurements over 16 months, while infants had three measurements over one year. For the subsample, we…

  PublisherDOI

• Powering the Future: Policies to Advance Equitable Clean Cooking Access for Health, Well-Being, and Climate

  Environmental Science & Technology Letters · 2025-07-31 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Household air pollution exposure in adult women is associated with increased carotid intima-media thickness: A cross-sectional study of the Household Air Pollution Intervention Network trial.

  International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health · 2025-09-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of global morbidity and mortality, disproportionately affecting people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Biomass fuels used for cooking in LMICs contribute significantly to household air pollution (HAP), which has been associated with inflammation, oxidative stress, and other pathways linked to atherosclerosis. We evaluate the association between HAP exposure and atherosclerosis by use of carotid artery ultrasound. METHODS: ), ca…

  PublisherDOI

• Evaluating associations between the transition to cleaner cooking energy use and hypertension in India

  Environmental Research Health · 2025-10-24 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Sustainable Development Goal 7 aims to ensure access to clean and affordable energy for all. India has implemented large-scale policies to improve access to clean fuels (CFs) such as liquefied petroleum gas. However, the impacts of such policies on public health outcomes have been understudied. This study utilized data from India’s National Family Health Surveys (NFHSs) conducted in 2016 and 2021 to evaluate the associations between changes in the prevalence of non-CF (non-CF) usage, dr…

  PublisherDOI

• Ethyne Furan Ratios as Indicators of High and Low Temperature p-PAH Emissions from Household Stoves in Haryana India

  Atmosphere · 2025-01-23 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Emission factors of 16 particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (16 p-PAHs) from residential fuel combustion are highly variable, resulting in significant uncertainty with respect to the estimation of emissions of PAHs from this sector. Emissions of 16 p-PAHs were characterized during daily cooking activities for two traditional Indian cookstoves: the angithi, which burns dung, and the chulha, using brushwood, dung, and a mix of brushwood and dung fuels. Previous work has shown that ethyn…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• William Checkley

  Johns Hopkins University

  98 shared

• Kalpana Balakrishnan

  Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research

  91 shared

• Jennifer L. Peel

  Colorado State University

  81 shared

• Thomas Clasen

  University of Georgia

  77 shared

• John P. McCracken

  University of Georgia

  76 shared

• Lisa M. Thompson

  Emory University

  71 shared

• Anaité Díaz-Artiga

  Universidad del Valle de Guatemala

  71 shared

• Ghislaine Rosa

  70 shared

Similar researchers at University of California, Berkeley

• Joshua Apteh-46
• Justin Remaish-38
• Ayesha Mahmudh-28