Breakout Session Leader: Sophia George & Yesid Cuesta Astroz

This session will explore how the HCA and broader scientific community can better integrate exposome research into atlas-building efforts to understand how chronic and acute environmental exposures influence human health across populations and contexts. Participants will discuss emerging worldwide exposome initiatives and the opportunities they present for connecting environmental, socioeconomic, clinical, and single-cell datasets at scale. A major focus of the session will be on the challenges of data harmonization, including the standardization and alignment of datasets collected across institutions, countries, and disciplines. The discussion will also address how advances in environmental genomics can be translated into frameworks that are meaningful for environmental governance and public health decision-making. Finally, the session will consider strategies for effective community engagement and collaboration across government, academia, industry and biotechnology, and lay communities to ensure that exposome-focused atlas efforts are impactful, inclusive, and broadly actionable.