Xavier Rodó

Institut de Salut Global Barcelona

Experimental Sciences & Mathematics

Head of the CLIMA (Climate & Health Program at ISGlobal, ORCID ID: 0000-0003-4843-6180). Founding director of the IC3 climate institute and former head of the LRC-PCB. MSc in engineering, completed his PhD in 1997 (UB) on the simulation of extreme ecosystems under climate forcing. Visiting fellow at Princeton and UCSD, and COLA-IGES associated scientist. Background in numerical ecology, climate dynamics and climate impact modeling. Taught ecology, advanced statistics, climate dynamics and sustainability and led/participated in 46 research projects. Advised over 20 postdoct fellows. Co-chair of CLIVAR-Spain (-2007), SSC of the MEDCLIVAR-ESF, CA and ER of the AR4-WGII (IPCC2007). SCM of the Drought Integration Group (DIG) of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) and of the ISIMIP Health Impact Models for IPCC AR6. Board Member of Nature Scientific Reports `Earth & Environmental Sciences' and of the OPCC to monitor climate change in the Pyrenees.


Research interests

The interplay between climate and health, where I attempt to uncover how climate impacts a wide range of diseases. I also work on climate dynamics, particularly the origin and predictability of El Niño and towards improving translational climate services for health, in particular for extremes. I am interested in the development of new statistical techniques and on improving computational models with different levels of complexity. The former to disentangle the interplay between intrinsic (e.g. immunity, demography, malnutrition) and extrinsic factors (e.g. climate, environment). For instance, the modeling of climate-driven infectious diseases (from waterborne, to foodborne, vectorborne and airborne diseases), both in endemic regions and in epidemic conditions (e.g. fringe areas of deserts and highlands in Africa and Asia). An emerging area of my research entails understanding the interaction between climate, pollution and the aerial microbiome for their effects on human health.

Selected publications

– Grossi C, Vogel FR Curcoll R, Àgueda A, Vargas A, Rodó X & Morguí J-A 2018, ‘Study of the daily and seasonal atmospheric CH4 mixing ratio variability in a rural Spanish region using 222Rn tracer’, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 18:5847-5860.

– Draibe J, Rodó X, Fulladosa X, Martínez-Valenzuela L, Diaz-Encarnación M, et al. 2018, ‘Seasonal variations in the onset of positive and negative renal ANCA-associated vasculitis in Spain‘, Clinical Kidney Journal, 11-4:468-473.

– Samreth D, Arnavielhe S, Ingenrieth F, Bedbrook A, Onorato GL, Murray R, Almeida R, Mizani MA et al & the MASK study group 2018, ‘Geolocation with respect to personal privacy for the Allergy Diary app – a MASK study‘, World Allergy Organization Journal, 11:15.

– Bousquet J, Anto JM, Annesi‑Maesano I, Dedeu T, Rodó X et al. 2018, ‘POLLAR: Impact of air POLLution on Asthma and Rhinitis; a European Institute of Innovation and Technology Health (EIT Health) project‘, Clinical and Translational Allergy​, 8:36.

– Bousquet J, Arnavielhe S, Bedbrook A, Bewick M, Rodó X and MASK study group 2018, ‘MASK 2017: ARIA digitally-enabled, integrated, person-centred care for rhinitis and asthma multimorbidity using real-world-evidence‘, Clinical and Translational Allergy, 25(8):45.

– Rusinol M, Fernandez-Cassi X, Timoneda N, Carratala A, Rodo X et al. 2018, Journal Of Environmental Management, 223:1100-1100.

Selected research activities

Jury of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Prize, Premis Ciutat de Barcelona, 2018. Scientific Committee Member, ISIMIP Climate Impact Models Intercomparison Program. Health Impact Models for IPCC AR6. Lead Scientist of a GRC-GenCat. Scientific Advisor of Re-City ‘Cities and Climate Change’. Co-PI of the Marie Curie ITN HELICAL and the UIA Barcelona Climate Project. Over 10 Intl. presentations (Keynote/Invited Speaker).

Lead Scientist in the implementation of the first Urban Lab for the monitoring of urban airborne hazards (AeroBioHealth).