Dr. Melaram, Assistant Professor of Public Health, and Dr. Jin, Professor of Statistics, are pleased to announce the acceptance of their publication, "Investigating Asthma Disparities in Hispanic Communities Using Machine Learning Algorithms on the All of Us Researcher Workbench" in Healthcare. Using interpretable machine learning models, their study revealed important nonlinear patterns indicating that older Hispanic women with higher BMI and greater access barriers experience the highest asthma burden, underscoring critical targets for intervention.

Welcome to Emma Doria, our newest undergraduate research assistant from Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi! Emma is a junior majoring in Medical Laboratory Science, and her research interests include water quality, agricultural impacts on health, environmental exposures, and community health. Emma will contribute to ongoing laboratory and field-based research efforts, supporting projects that examine environmental exposures and their impacts on community health. We are excited to have Emma join the Melaram Lab!

Dr. Rajesh Melaram, Assistant Professor of Public Health, along with research assistants, Hiea Almekhlabi and Manasa Kuchavaram, successfully presented and defended their initiative, “Breathe and Boogie,” to the School Health Advisory Council (SHAC) of the Corpus Christi Independent School District. During the meeting, the community engagement team addressed board concerns and questions related to health topics such as diet and nutrition, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) alignments, and special needs accommodations. The board approved the initiative, marking a key step toward implementing an asthma education workshop in local schools across Nueces County.

Dr. Rajesh Melaram represented Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi at the 2025 American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting and Expo in Washington, D.C., presenting the Melaram Lab's research on "Daily Time Series of Ambient Ozone and Fine Particulate Matter in Corpus Christi, Texas." This research provides critical baseline data to inform local air quality policy decisions and improve understanding of pollutant dynamics in petrochemical industrial regions. The work, which originated as an undergraduate research project, has now been presented at a national conference within its first year.

Dr. Rajesh Melaram, Assistant Professor of Public Health, was invited to present as part of the Epidemiology-Biostatistics Lecture Series at the University of Kentucky College of Public Health. During the session, Dr. Melaram presented his research on "Daily Time Series of Ambient Ozone and Fine Particulate Matter in Corpus Christi, Texas." He discussed long-term air quality patterns along the Texas industrial coast and highlighted seasonal trends, pollutant variability, and temperature-associated changes in air pollution levels. The presentation emphasized the use of time series modeling approaches, including seasonal decomposition and autoregressive methods, to better understand environmental exposures in petrochemical regions and their implications for public health.

Hiea Almekhlabi and Manasa Kuchavaram, research assistants, co-presented their workshop proposal, "Breathe and Boogie", to the School Health Advisory Council of the Corpus Christi Independent School District. Their presentation provided meaningful context for the BREATHE-CC initiative in South Texas, emphasizing the importance of helping children identify triggers and manage asthma symptoms through guided breathing techniques. They further demonstrated how asthma education can empower children, families, and communities to take an active role in promoting respiratory health.

Dr. Melaram, Assistant Professor of Public Health, delivered an informative and engaging Leading, Edifying Discussions talk at the Health Sciences and Technology Research Symposium. His presentation, "BREATHE-CC: Where Environment Meets Child Health", highlighted childhood asthma as a major public health issue while showcasing a successful statewide collaboration aimed at reducing health disparities and building a healthier South Texas. Dr. Melaram envisions uniting a city through science, community-engagement, and policy-driven action to ensure every child breathes cleaner, healthier air.

Dr. Melaram, Assistant Professor of Public Health, and Dr. Jin, Professor of Statistics, shared their knowledge on, "AI, Machine Learning, and Asthma" at the Fall 2025 Science Thursdays. Dr. Melaram discussed what public health means and how educating youth can shape healthy behaviors and promote long-term community well-being. He also highlighted the BREATHE-CC study as a groundbreaking initiative in Corpus Christi to address environmental health disparities related to asthma. Both Dr. Melaram and Dr. Jin are dedicated to interdisciplinary research that integrates data science and public health to improve health outcomes in underserved communities. 

Dr. Melaram launched the Fall 2025 Share-It seminar series hosted by the College of Nursing and Health Sciences Research & Innovation Committee. His presentation, "From Teaching to Research - Making Community Impact," highlighted his academic journey from teaching undergraduate biology to advancing public health through research and community engagement. Dr. Melaram emphasized how his work is helping to shape the next generation of public health leaders, empowering them to become agents of positive social change within their communities and beyond.

Dr. Melaram presented his latest research to the Center for Rural Resilience during their campus visit. His presentation,
“Asthma Surveillance in Rural Communities Using Machine
Learning,” highlighted innovative approaches to addressing asthma disparities in underserved populations, particularly rural Hispanic communities. Dr. Melaram, in collaboration with Dr. Jin, is leveraging machine learning and large-scale
health datasets to better understand and predict asthma outcomes.

Welcome to Manasa Kuchavaram, our newest research collaborator! Manasa is a geospatial systems engineer specializing in spatial databases, GIS, and data visualization. She holds an M.S. in Geospatial Systems Engineering from Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi and a B.E. in Computer Science from Osmania University. Manasa will be playing a major role in our recently funded BREATHE-CC Cohort Study and supporting regional criteria pollutant and meteorological dynamics research across South Texas through interactive dashboard development and spatial analysis. We are excited to have Manasa join the Melaram Lab!

Welcome to Hiea, our newest undergraduate research assistant from TAMU-CC! Hiea is majoring in Public Health, and her research interests include community health, environmental exposures, and pediatric health. Hiea will play a major role in developing community engagement materials, coordinating with community partners, and converting research findings into accessible community summaries for the BREATHE-CC Cohort Study.

Dr. Melaram presented his research "Human Health Impacts of Freshwater Cyanobacterial Toxins - Epidemiological Insights on Microcystins and Nodularins" to the California Cyanobacteria and Harmful Algal Bloom (CCHAB) Network. His presentation was informative, providing insights into the toxicity and health effects of cyanotoxin exposure, supported by both biological explanations and epidemiological findings. 

Image Credit: Ren et al. (2023)

We're excited to announce the launch of our water quality initiative examining harmful algal blooms and cyanotoxin distribution in Lake Corpus Christi. Dr. Melaram and Jaden are working to attain and assess water samples for the presence of cyanotoxins. Stay tuned for findings that will advance our understanding of water safety and inform future environmental decisions in the Corpus Christi community!

The Melaram Lab is excited to be attending the APHA 2025 Annual Meeting and Expo in Washington, D.C. The lab’s first collaborative work, “Daily time series analysis of ambient ozone and fine particulate matter in Corpus Christi, Texas” was accepted for presentation.

Today marked the first Public Health Summit in Corpus Christi – Nueces County. The event titled “A.R.T. of Public Health Summit” addressed access, resources, and teaching in relation to chronic disease prevention and management. During this special occasion, Dr. Melaram served as a panelist on the topic “Preparing the Future of Public Health Work.” He shared his background and motivation for pursuing public health, highlighted the importance of community to improve health and well-being, and discussed key initiatives aimed at strengthening public health education and preparing the next generation of public health leaders. 

Destini presented her research “Daily Time Series Analysis of Ambient O₃ and PM_2.5  Levels in Corpus Christi, TX” at TAMU-CC’s 2025 SSIRCA (Symposium for Student Innovation, Research, and Creative Activities).

Please welcome, Jaden, our fourth undergraduate team member! Jaden will be supporting a field study examining the distribution and occurrence of cyanotoxins at Lake Corpus Christi. We look forward to the valuable contributions to our environmental health research.

Dr. Melaram welcomed Justin Ramsaran to the Island University! Justin presented an engaging seminar on “From Data to Decisions: Empowering the Next Generation of AI-Driven Healthcare Leaders” to the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. Justin emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary collaborations in academic institutions to solve complex problems in the healthcare space. He also had the opportunity to connect with Dr. Melaram’s Public Health class and educated them about having the necessary base knowledge in their respective domains when integrating AI resources, such as ChatGPT.

Dr. Melaram is thrilled to announce the acceptance of his publication “The Association of Childhood Allergic Diseases with Prenatal Exposure to Pollen Grains Through At-Birth DNA Methylation” in Epigenomes. This study revealed that epigenetic changes in the genes, ZNF99, ADM2, and HCG1, from high prenatal pollen grain exposures, are linked to a decreased incidence of asthma and allergic rhinitis in early childhood.

Read the full paper here