Ilona Jaspers initially approached the outbreak of vaping-related illnesses with a clinical curiosity.
As an inhalation toxicologist at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, Jaspers has for nearly 20 years studied the health effects of many substances that can be inhaled. Seven of those years involved researching e-cigarettes. She had been following cases of patients with symptoms similar to those seen in the outbreak through academic articles since 2016.
