History of Center for Air Pollution Research

Air pollution is a major environmental risk factor affecting human health. Exposure to air pollutants can cause a variety of health effects depending on the pollution composition (variety of particles and gases), exposure level, duration and frequency of exposure, and associated toxicity of the specific pollutant. These exposures are associated with a broad range of acute and chronic health effects varying from sub-clinical effects to premature mortality.

Therefore, the importance of air pollution as a leading environmental risk factor, motivated the Institute for Environmental Research (IER) of Tehran University of Medical Sciences to establish the “Center for Air Pollution Research (CAPR)” in 2010, the first air pollution research center in the country focusing on ambient and indoor air pollution monitoring and assessing the health impacts of air pollution at the national and sub national levels.

This center is the first of its kind in the country, receiving initial approval from the Ministry of Health in 2010 and final approval in 2014. The organizational structure of the Institute for Environmental Research and the Center for Air Pollution Research is illustrated in the figure below.