About

Anjum Hajat is an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Washington and an Adjunct Associate Professor in Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences. She is a social and environmental epidemiologist whose research focuses on upstream and macro-level determinants of health and health disparities. Her work examines how social and physical environment stressors disproportionately impact the health of disadvantaged populations. She has a particular interest in applying causal inference methods and engaging communities to address questions that are most relevant to them. Her research areas include environmental health disparities, environmental justice, and the health impacts of social and environmental stressors. She conducts community-based participatory research, notably in the Duwamish Valley, to evaluate interventions such as low-cost box fans and filters aimed at improving indoor air quality and reducing asthma symptoms among children. Additionally, her research explores other environmental factors like greenspace and their effects on chronic conditions over the life course. She also investigates the health impacts of precarious employment, producing evidence that links poor-quality employment to adverse health outcomes. Furthermore, her team studies biomarkers affected by social and environmental stressors to better understand the mechanisms through which social stressors cause disease. Dr. Hajat holds a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina (2010), an MPH in Epidemiology and International Health from the University of Michigan (1998), and a BA in International Affairs from George Washington University (1995). She is affiliated with several research centers, including the Center for Studies on Demography and Ecology, the West Coast Poverty Center, the Center for Exposures, Diseases, Genomics, and Environment, and the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Environmental health
• Sociology
• Demography
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Pathology
• Internal medicine
• Gender studies
• Geography
• Chemistry
• Clinical psychology
• Psychiatry
• Biology
• Meteorology

Selected publications

• Additional file 1 of Intergenerational association of early childhood education and interpersonal violence: a retrospective cohort study

  Figshare · 2026-03-13

  articleOpen access

  Supplementary Material 1

  PublisherDOI

• A feasibility study exploring precarious employment and stress-related health among women

  BMC Public Health · 2026-04-15

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Stress is a hypothesized mechanism through which precarious employment (PE) may contribute to poor health; however, there is a limited understanding of this potential mechanism in the U.S. This study aimed to (1) provide preliminary insights into the biological stress profiles of women experiencing varying levels of PE and (2) test the feasibility of at-home collection of stress biomarkers, c-reactive protein (CRP), and salivary cortisol, among women in Chicago, Illinois. We recruited 101 working-age women between August-October 2023. An online survey collected information on demographics, PE, and self-reported mental (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale) and physical (self-reported health, body mass index) health. We mailed home-collection kits to collect capillary blood (120 𝜇L) and saliva (3 samples on 2 workdays). We used 27 employment indicators to construct a multidimensional PE score (PES) (range:0–10) and estimated descriptive statistics overall and by tertile of PE. We reached our recruitment target of ~ 50 women/month, and 70% returned the test kits. The sample was diverse in age (18–40 years: 57%, 41–64 years: 43%) and education ($$\:\le\:$$highschool: 11%, some college: 29%, $$\:\ge\:$$bachelor’s: 60%). Non-Hispanic (NH)-Black (33%) and Hispanic (36%) women were over-represented, compared to NH-White women (28%). More than half earned <$40,000, and the average PES was 3.6 (SE = 0.3). The most precariously employed women identified as NH-Black and Hispanic, had lower levels of educational attainment, experienced discrimination and had poorer self-reported physical and mental health. Those lost-to-follow-up between the online survey and biospecimen collection were lower-education, lower-income, more precariously employed, identified as Hispanic, and had poorer health. Biomarker patterns across PE tertiles were inconsistent; however, there was some suggestive evidence that the most precariously employed group may have lower recovery cortisol trends throughout the day, compared to the low and mid PE groups. We demonstrate the feasibility of at-home data collection of biospecimen samples among working women. Larger studies of PE and health are warranted.

  PublisherDOI

• Intergenerational association of early childhood education and interpersonal violence: a retrospective cohort study

  Injury Epidemiology · 2026-03-13

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: There is a need for research on the effects of primary prevention strategies that modify upstream social and economic drivers of interpersonal violence, especially intergenerationally. We examined the association between maternal exposure to Head Start (a high-quality preschool program for low-income children) and offsprings' risk of violence, hypothesizing that benefits would be greatest for Black and Hispanic/Latino male offspring. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study using National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and intergenerationally linked Child and Young Adult Cohort (NLSCYA) data. Offspring were born between 1970 and 2014, with follow-up from 1988 to 2020. The exposure was Head Start availability in the birth county when mothers were aged 3-5 years. Outcomes were self-reported serious fighting (ages 10-17) and assault conviction (ages 15-25) among offspring. We excluded NLSCYA respondents whose mother was born outside the United States/moved to the United States after aged 5, who were never age eligible to answer the questions about violence, and whose maternal grandmother had a high school degree or higher (i.e., limiting the sample to NLSCYA respondents whose mother was most likely to have attended Head Start). RESULTS: There were 4,741 and 4,734 NLSCYA respondents in the primary analytic sample for serious fighting and assault conviction, respectively. Maternal Head Start exposure was associated with 0.85 times the risk of serious fighting among offspring (95% CI = 0.71, 1.01), with results driven by Black (RR = 0.71, 95% CI = 0.58, 0.87) and Hispanic/Latino male offspring (RR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.58, 0.92). No reductions in risk of serious fighting were observed among other subpopulations or for assault conviction, a rare outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Results of this study indicate that high-quality early childhood education may narrow disparities in interpersonal violence across generations, offering novel evidence on population-level and primary prevention programs to promote safety and wellbeing.

  PublisherDOI

• Intergenerational association of early childhood education and interpersonal violence: a retrospective cohort study

  Figshare · 2026-03-13

  otherOpen access

  Abstract Background There is a need for research on the effects of primary prevention strategies that modify upstream social and economic drivers of interpersonal violence, especially intergenerationally. We examined the association between maternal exposure to Head Start (a high-quality preschool program for low-income children) and offsprings’ risk of violence, hypothesizing that benefits would be greatest for Black and Hispanic/Latino male offspring. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study using National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and intergenerationally linked Child and Young Adult Cohort (NLSCYA) data. Offspring were born between 1970 and 2014, with follow-up from 1988 to 2020. The exposure was Head Start availability in the birth county when mothers were aged 3–5 years. Outcomes were self-reported serious fighting (ages 10–17) and assault conviction (ages 15–25) among offspring. We excluded NLSCYA respondents whose mother was born outside the United States/moved to the United States after aged 5, who were never age eligible to answer the questions about violence, and whose maternal grandmother had a high school degree or higher (i.e., limiting the sample to NLSCYA respondents whose mother was most likely to have attended Head Start). Results There were 4,741 and 4,734 NLSCYA respondents in the primary analytic sample for serious fighting and assault conviction, respectively. Maternal Head Start exposure was associated with 0.85 times the risk of serious fighting among offspring (95% CI = 0.71, 1.01), with results driven by Black (RR = 0.71, 95% CI = 0.58, 0.87) and Hispanic/Latino male offspring (RR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.58, 0.92). No reductions in risk of serious fighting were observed among other subpopulations or for assault conviction, a rare outcome. Conclusions Results of this study indicate that high-quality early childhood education may narrow disparities in interpersonal violence across generations, offering novel evidence on population-level and primary prevention programs to promote safety and wellbeing.

  PublisherDOI

• Additional file 1 of Intergenerational association of early childhood education and interpersonal violence: a retrospective cohort study

  Figshare · 2026-03-13

  articleOpen access

  Supplementary Material 1

  PublisherDOI

• Traffic-related air pollutant exposure and physical performance in the Adult Changes in Thought cohort

  Environment International · 2025-10-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Declining physical function is common among older adults and is associated with reduced quality of life. There is little research on the relationship between air pollution and physical limitations, though exposure to air pollution is associated with many chronic conditions that lead to worsening physical function. This is especially true for several traffic-related air pollutants (TRAPs), as these pollutants can enter the circulatory system and lead to systemic inflammation. METHODS: , and UFPs of various size ranges) and physical performance assessed using a modified version of the Short Physical Performance Battery (score 0-12). This measure combines three physical functioning assessments: chair-stand time, gait speed, and grip strength. We used linear mixed models to understand whether pollutant exposure was associated with physical performance, both cross-sectionally at baseline and longitudinally after adjustment for other risk factors. RESULTS: exposure were suggestive of faster declines in physical performance (-0.046; 95 % CI: -0.096, 0.004) and (-0.032; 95 %CI: -0.074, 0.01), equivalent to an additional 2.6 months (-0.4, 5.6) and 1.8 months (-0.7, 4.3) of aging over 5 years, respectively. Higher UFP exposure was not associated with changes in physical performance over time. DISCUSSION: This work suggests that air pollution from traffic may impact the physical function of older adults, though more research is needed to confirm these findings.

  PublisherDOI

• Cancer mortality rates by detailed occupation among US working-age adults between 2020 and 2023: a population-based study

  The Lancet Oncology · 2025-12-05

  article
  PublisherDOI

• 76 Precarious employment and cardiometabolic health in the United States

  2025-07-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• US Cancer Mortality Rates by Detailed Occupation Among Working-Age Adults, 2020-2023

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• 43 Degrees of decline: race and gender disparities in early career precarious employment and mid-life depression for college-educated americans

  2025-07-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Interaction of Air Pollution and Psychosocial Stress on Cardiovascular Disease.

  NIH · $747k · 2016–2021

• The role of precarious work in the production of health disparities in older ages

  NIH · $1.7M · 2018–2024

• Interaction of Air Pollution and Psychosocial Stress on Cardiovascular Disease.

  NIH · $242k · 2014–2016

Frequent coauthors

• Joel D. Kaufman

  University of Washington

  80 shared

• Erin O. Semmens

  University of Montana

  26 shared

• Annette L. Fitzpatrick

  26 shared

• Farzad Mostashari

  24 shared

• Adam A. Szpiro

  University of Washington

  23 shared

• Cindy S. Leary

  University of Montana

  23 shared

• Sindana D. Ilango

  University of Washington

  23 shared

• Sarah B. Andrea

  Portland State University

  22 shared