Alton Lu

Alton Lu is a researcher at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). In this role, he works on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, focusing on sources of data, streamlining modeling pipelines, and producing GBD estimates of several diseases. Lu earned a Masters in policy and data analytics from Carnegie Mellon University and a BA in finance from the University of Washington.

Frank Huntley looks at his sculpture made out of the opioid pill bottles he got when addicted, in Somersworth, New Hampshire on February 5, 2020.

Poverty

Opioid Deaths and Lockdowns

by Alton Lu

A complicated story

Kidney disease increases are concentrated among farm workers in hot, humid conditions, including sugarcane fields in Central America, similar to this one in Jacarezinho, Brazil on January 1, 2019. Picture is taken at the edge of a field on a sugar plantation on a spectacularly clear day. The earth is brown, the growing canes are green, and the deep blue sky has little fluffy clouds rolling in. REUTERS/Marcelo Texeira

Environment

Climate Change, the Kidney Killer

by Alton Lu

Is chronic kidney disease the canary in the coal mine in terms of feeling the health impacts of climate change?