Colleen Reid photo portrait
Associate Professor of Geography • Health impacts of environmental change • Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, 2014
Human Geography • Environment-Society

Research Interests

I study how environmental and social exposures interact to influence health with a particular focus on exposures caused by global climatic changes and society’s responses to those changes. To date my research has focused on the health impacts of exposure to air pollution from wildfires, extreme heat events, and proximity to urban vegetation. I have received funding for my research from the EPA, NSF, CDC, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the JPB Foundation. Prior to becoming an assistant professor in Geography at the University of Colorado, Boulder, I was a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. I completed my Ph.D. in Environmental Health Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley in 2014, a Masters of Public Health in 2007 from the University of California Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Science from Brown University in 2000.

Current Research

My current research projects include a study investigating how wildfire smoke affects air quality and health of children in schools and at home, looking into the health and air quality impacts of the Marshall Fire, and trying to understand whether proximity to green space or people’s perceptions of green space matter more in affecting their mental health.


Recent Courses Taught

  • Spring 2023  GEOG 3692  Introduction to Global Public Health
  • Fall 2022  GEOG 4852/5852  Health and Medical Geography
  • Spring 2022  GEOG 3692  Introduction to Global Public Health
  • Fall 2021  GEOG 3692  Introduction to Global Public Health
  • Fall 2021  GEOG 4002/5100 Special Topics: Climate Change and Health
  • Spring 2021  GEOG 3692  Global Public Health 
  • Spring 2021  GEOG 4852/5852  Health and Medical Geography
  • Spring 2020  GEOG 3692  Introduction to Global Public Health
  • Spring 2020  GEOG 4023/5023  Quantitative Methods in Geography

Honors and Awards

  • 2021 Provost’s Faculty Achievement Award Winner, University of Colorado Boulder
  • 2020 Emerging Scholar Award, American Association of Geographers Health and Medical Geography Specialty Group
  • 2020 Outstanding Faculty Mentor, Honorable Mention, Undergraduate Research and Opportunities Program, University of Colorado Boulder
  • 2018 - 2021 JPB Environmental Health Fellow run by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
  • 2013 International Society of Exposure Science Student Poster Award, Honorable Mention
  • 2010 APHA Student Travel and Registration Scholarship
  • 2010 – 2013 EPA STAR Graduate Student Fellowship
  • 2009 – 2010 CDC and ASPH Environmental Public Health Fellowship

Recent Publications

  • Silberstein JM, Mael LE, Frischmon CR, Rieves ES, Coffey ER, Das T, Dresser W, Hatch AC, Nath J, Pliszka HO, Reid CE, Vance ME, Wiedinmyer C, de Gouw JA, Hannigan MP. 2023. Residual impacts of a Wildland Urban Interface Fire on Indoor Urban Particulate Matter and Dust: A study from the Marshall Fire. Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-023-01376-3
  • Reid CE, Considine ED, Telesca D, Watson G, Pfister GG, Jerrett M. 2023. Effect modification of the association between wildfire smoke and respiratory health by area-level smoking prevalence and socio-economic status. Environmental Research Health doi: 10.1088/2752-5309/acc4e1
  • Spark TL, Reid CE, Adams RS, Schneider AL, Forster J, Denneson LM, Bollinger M, Brenner LA. 2023. Geography, rurality, and community distress: deaths due to suicide, alcohol-use, and drug-use among Colorado Veterans. Injury Epidemiology 10:8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40621-023-00416-x
  • Considine EM, Hao J, deSouza P, Braun D, Reid CE, Nethery RC. 2023. Evaluation of Model-Based PM2.5 Estimates for Exposure Assessment During Wildfire Smoke Episodes in the Western U.S. Environmental Science & Technology. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c06288
  • Reid CE, *Rieves ES, Carlson K. 2022. Perceptions of green space usage, abundance, and quality of green space were associated with better mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic among residents of Denver. PLOS One 17(3): e0263779. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263779. Data available at: https://doi.org/10.25810/3wjs-ay43
  • Kondo MC, Reid CE, Mockrin MH, Heilman WE, Long D. 2022. Socio-demographic and Health Vulnerability in Prescribed-Burn Exposed versus Unexposed Counties near the National Forest System. Science of the Total Environment 806: 150564. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150564
  • Hines E, Reid CE. 2021. Hospital Preparedness, Mitigation, and Response to Hurricane Harvey in Harris County, Texas. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. 1-7; doi:10.1017/dmp.2021.146.
  • Reid CE, Considine ED, Maestas MM, *Li G. 2021. 2021. Daily PM2.5 concentration estimates by County, ZIP code, and census tract in 11 western states 2008-2018. Scientific Data. 8(1):112. doi: 10.1038/s41597-021-00891-1
  • Considine E, Reid CE, Olgetree M, Dye T. 2021. Improving Accuracy of Air Pollution Exposure Measurements: Statistical Correction of a Municipal Low-Cost Airborne Particulate Matter Sensor Network. Environmental Pollution. 115833; doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115833.
  • Hines E, Reid CE. 2020. Hurricane Harvey Hospital Flood Impacts: Accuracy of Federal Emergency Management Agency Flood Hazard Areas in Harris County, Texas. American Journal of Public Health. 110 (4), 574-579; doi:10.2105/AJPH.2019.305520.
  • Humphrey JL, Reid CE, Kinnee EJ, Kubzansky LD, Robinson LF, Clougherty JE. 2019. Putting co-exposures on equal footing: an ecological analysis of same-scale air pollution and social factors on cardiovascular disease in New York City. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16(23):4621; doi:10.3390/ijerph16234621.
  • Reid CE, Considine EM, Watson GL, Telesca D, Pfister GG, Jerrett M. 2019. Associations between respiratory health and ozone and fine particulate matter during a wildfire event. Environment International; 129:291–298; doi:10.1016/j.envint.2019.04.033.

Updated September 2023