Michael Mascari

Michael Mascari

Visiting Lecturer

Focus on environmental pollutants, birth outcomes

Location

Goessmann Building

686 North Pleasant Street
Amherst, MA 01003
United States

149B Goessmann

Environmental exposures shape health in profound, and often overlooked ways, and understanding their biological and population-level impacts is essential for preventing chronic disease. My research focuses on how complex mixtures of substances including metals, PFAS, and other environmental pollutants interact with nutritional factors such as folate to influence neurodevelopment, cognitive performance, and metabolic pathways. Across my published work, I have applied multipollutant regression, Bayesian kernel machine regression, and other mixture methods to national datasets and birth cohorts uncovering how combined exposures more accurately reflect real-world risks.

I have led large-scale data, analytics, and research initiatives across public health and public safety settings, including directing statewide data governance and artificial intelligence efforts as Chief Data Officer for the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection. Previously, as an Epidemiologist for the City of Hartford, I developed and implemented multiple surveillance systems and served as principal investigator for a major CDC Overdose Data to Action award.

Education

  • PhD, Epidemiology, UMass Amherst
  • MPH, Epidemiology, Rutgers University
  • BS, Biology, Salve Regina University

Key Publications

  1. Mascari, M., & Colomb, W. (2025, October). Crime in Connecticut 2024 annual report.
  2. Mascari, M., Croasdale-Mills, A., & Nembhard, P.-G., William, T., Fourquet, J., and Jackson-Sheheed, E. (2023, August). Overcoming adversity: Ensuring robust HIV health services: The success of the Hartford Transitional Grant Area (TGA) and the strategies used for continued success despite challenges from COVID-19 and Mpox [White paper]. City of Hartford Department of Health and Human Services.
  3. Mascari, M., Reeves, K., Balasubramanian, R., Liu, Z., Laouali, N., & Oulhote, Y. (2025). Associations of environmental pollutant mixtures and red blood cell folate concentrations: A mixture analysis of the U.S. adult population based on NHANES data, 2007–2016. Toxics, 13(3), 200. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics13030200
  4. Mascari, M., Cohen, N., Yao, M., Huang, J., Lane, J., Reeves, K. W., Balasubramanian, R., Liu, Z., Laouali, N., Daniel, L. M., Chen, C.-Y., Chong, Y. S., Chan, S.-Y., Kee, M. Z. L., Valvi, D., & Oulhote, Y. (2025). Associations of cord blood concentrations of perfluoroalkyl substances with autistic traits in Singaporean children: The Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes study. Chemosphere, 371, 144040. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.144040