Ana Alonso Hellweg

I have a background in environmental sciences and public health, with a bachelor's degree specializing in Atmospheric and Climate Science and a master's degree with a major in Human Health, Nutrition and Environment, both from ETH Zurich. I completed my master thesis at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, where I analyzed whether ambient pollen concentrations influence the sleep quality of individuals with pollen allergies. My work experience in sustainability consulting and stakeholder participation processes for spatial and urban planning strengthened my interest in how the environments we create and inhabit shape our health and well-being. This motivates me to contribute to research that clarifies how environmental exposures influence brain health.

My doctoral project focuses on determining whether environmental exposures, including ambient air pollution and traffic noise, contribute to neurodegeneration and increased dementia risk. In addition, I aim to identify biological pathways through which these environmental exposures influence dementia risk by studying blood-based biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease and brain structural changes indicative of neurodegeneration, using health data from Swedish population-based cohorts. Ultimately, the goal is to examine associations between different environmental exposures and dementia risk and assess whether these are mediated by changes in blood-based or brain structural biomarkers.