Dr Karen Exley

Group Leader of Air Quality and Public Health, UK Health Security Agency, Honorary Professor, University of Leicester

I am Group Leader of Air Quality and Public Health in the Environmental Hazards and Emergencies Department at UK Health Security Agency and an Honorary Associate Professor at the Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Leicester. I am the national lead for UKHSA’s strategic priority programme on Cleaner air.  

My research focuses on environmental public health with specific interests in improving exposure and risk assessment of indoor and outdoor air pollution and environmental chemicals. It also includes evaluating the effectiveness of interventions for both indoor and outdoor air quality and translating this knowledge into actionable public health tools and guidance for national and local government and other stakeholders. 

I am a member of the scientific secretariat for the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants and was an expert committee member for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s Quality Standard on air pollution. I am also a Member of the UK Research and Innovation Strategic Priorities Fund’s Clean Air Steering Committee and a Member of the National Institute of Health Research’s Public Health Research Funding Committee.