Lucchini, Roberto Graduate Faculty

Positions
LinkedIn
Twitter

biography

  • Dr. Roberto G. Lucchini is Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at Florida International University and Professor of Occupational Medicine at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy. A physician specialized in Occupational Medicine, he has led major academic, clinical, and research programs in both Europe and the United States, including at the University of Brescia, Italy, and at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, where he directed the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the World Trade Center Data Center, and the NIOSH-funded Education and Research Center for New York and New Jersey.

    His research examines how environmental and occupational exposures affect the nervous system across the lifespan, from neurodevelopment to neurodegeneration. Over the years, his work has evolved from metal neurotoxicity and environmental epidemiology to the integration of the neuroexposome with multiomics, combining exposure characterization, biomarkers, neuroimaging, and molecular profiling to clarify the biological mechanisms linking toxicants and complex environmental mixtures to brain health outcomes. His studies have addressed the effects of metals, particulate matter, pesticides, and other environmental toxicants in both community and occupational populations, with particular emphasis on vulnerable groups and life-course susceptibility.

    At FIU, Dr. Lucchini leads the World Trade Center research program on 9/11 responders relocating to Florida, studying the long-term health consequences of toxic exposures and trauma in this population. He is also co-director of the NIEHS-funded Training in Environmental Neuroscience (TENS) program, reflecting his commitment to interdisciplinary, translational, and policy-relevant environmental health research, as well as to training the next generation of scientists in this field.

    More recently, he has contributed to the development of an international Amazon Basin consortium addressing mercury contamination and co-exposures such as microplastics and agrochemicals in Indigenous and riverine communities. This work expands his longstanding interest in environmental mixtures and global health by linking exposure science, biomarker research, and community-engaged approaches to some of the most pressing environmental health challenges affecting vulnerable populations in the region and globally.

research interests

  • - Occupational and environmental neurotoxicology
    - Epidemiological health surveillance
    - Environmental epidemiology
    - Exposomics and neuroexposome research
    - Multiomics integration in environmental healt
    - Neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration
    - Metal toxicity, especially manganese and mercury
    - Environmental mixtures and cumulative risk assessment
    - Biomarkers of exposure, effect, and susceptibility
    - Neuroimaging in environmental health research
    - Occupational and community-based exposure assessment
    - Brain health across the life course
    - Aging and environmental determinants of neurological disease
    - World Trade Center responder health
    - Environmental health disparities and vulnerable populations
    - Global environmental health, including Amazon Basin contamination
    - Climate change, pollution, and health
    - Translational environmental health sciences
    - Public health prevention and policy translation

selected scholarly works & creative activities

full name

  • Roberto Lucchini

visualizations