Dr. Andrew Rundle is a Professor of Epidemiology in the Mailman School of Public Health. His research has primarily focused on the determinants of sedentary lifestyles and obesity and the health related consequences of these conditions.

Dr. Rundle directs the Built Environment and Health Research Group (beh.columbia.edu), a trans-disciplinary team of researchers studying how neighborhood built, economic, business and social environments influence health and health behaviors, particularly for issues related energy balance and obesity risk. His work on neighborhood-level effects has been used as part of the scientific rationale for the New York City ‘Active Design Guidelines’ which refocuses urban design and architecture to support physical activity and for the Mayor’s Food Policy Task Force’s ‘Food Retail Expansion to Support Health’ (FRESH) initiative. His work also serves as part of the scientific basis for the International WELL Building Institute’s WELL Building and WELL Community building and design certification program. He and his collaborators have expanded their studies of neighborhood effects on health to include studies of childhood neuro-development, childhood asthma risk, pedestrian injuries, COVID-19, cancer survivorship and depression and disability among the elderly. The BEH team have also been involved in Columbia University’s COVID-19 response work, taking the lead in building online interactive mapping (https://tinyurl.com/beh-columbia-maps) and data visualization tools (https://cuepi.shinyapps.io/COVID-19/) for COVID-19 forecasts, community vulnerability and health care system capacity. During the pandemic, as part of converting his courses to online formats, Dr. Rundle created a video art project that served as a companion to his online teaching – “2020AD: A Pandemic Film Project” (https://blogs.cuit.columbia.edu/agr3/)