Lucas Rocha Melogno
With a background in environmental engineering, Lucas conducts risk assessments of airborne and waterborne pathogens, aiding U.S. federal agencies in developing guidelines to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases.
Since joining ICF, Lucas supervised a team of 20 scientists synthesizing the epidemiological evidence of perfluorinated compounds. He also supported the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the development of drinking water health advisories. Lucas co-led teams conducting systematic literature reviews focused on recreational water quality criteria development for EPA, and the identification of key health equity constructs of tobacco initiation, use, and cessation for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Lucas began his career in global public health working on novel sanitation systems piloted in India, Kenya, and the Philippines, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He conducted field research in India, Bolivia, Honduras, and the U.S., developing scalable drinking water and bioaerosol sampling methodologies. Lucas’ expertise in aerosol science led him to conduct one of the first studies in early 2020 investigating the aerosol transmission of COVID-19 with a team of scientists from Duke University School of Medicine. He also led the development of an open-access web application that has been used in more than 50 countries to estimate the risk of aerosol transmission of COVID-19 indoors.
- Environment
- Environmental impact assessment
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Risk management
- Research and evaluation
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Ph.D., Environmental Engineering, Duke University
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M.S., Environmental Engineering, Duke University
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B.S., Development and Environmental Engineering, Zamorano University
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“Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment of Outdoor Aerosolized Pathogens in Cities With Poor Sanitation,” Science of the Total Environment, 2022.
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“Quantitative Risk Assessment of COVID-19 Aerosol Transmission Indoors: A Mechanistic Stochastic Web Application,” Environmental Technology, 2021.
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“Detection and Quantification of Enteric Pathogens in Aerosols Near Open Wastewater Canals in Cities With Poor Sanitation,” Environmental Science and Technology, 2021.
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“Environmental and Aerosolized Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Among Hospitalized Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients,” Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2020.
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“Bioaerosol Sampling Optimization for Community Exposure Assessment in Cities With Poor Sanitation: A One Health Cross-Sectional Study,” Science of the Total Environment, 2020.
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“Rapid Drinking Water Safety Estimation in Cities: Piloting a Globally Scalable Method in Cochabamba, Bolivia,” Science of the Total Environment, 2019.
