Co-Director of the Center:
Michael B. Bracken, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Epidemiology
Professor, Division of Chronic Disease Epidemiology
Phone: (203) 764-9375
Fax: (203) 764-9378
E-mail address: michael.bracken@yale.edu
Professor Bracken's primary research interest is the epidemiology of diseases of pregnancy, newborns and infants, emphasizing environmental and genetic risks for causation and iatrogenic factors in patient care. Professor Bracken is Co-Director of the Yale Center for Perinatal, Pediatric and Environmental Epidemiology, which conducts research in obstetric, perinatal, and neonatal disease. He has received numerous grant awards and published over 300 papers and two books (Perinatal Epidemiology (1984) and Effective Care of the Newborn Infant (with J.C. Sinclair, 1992). He is an editor of the Cochrane Neonatal Review Group and teaches courses on evidence-based health care and medicine and on pharmaco-epidemiology. Professor Bracken directed the National Acute Spinal Cord Injury randomized trials of therapies to prevent paralysis after injury. In 1990, this group identified the first successful therapy for acute spinal cord injury. A former President of both the American College of Epidemiology and the Society for Epidemiologic Research, Professor Bracken is a Fellow of Green College, Oxford University and serves as consultant to national and international governmental agencies and private corporations.
Co-Director of the Center:
Brian P. Leaderer, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Public Heath,
Interim Dean of Public Health,
Interim Chairman, Epidemiology and Public Health,
Division of Environmental Health Sciences
Phone: (203) 764-9375
Fax: (203) 764-9378
E-mail address: brian.leaderer@yale.edu
Dr. Leaderer's research interests are in the area of assessing exposures to air contaminants and assessing the health impact resulting from those exposures in both controlled human and epidemiological studies. His research is interdisciplinary in nature. While typically focusing on indoor air quality issues, its purpose is to establish a close link between exposure assessment and health and comfort effects measured in both chambers and in epidemiologic studies.
Within the context of assessing exposures, his work includes developing a theoretical framework for doing exposure assessment, determining the type and quantity of health related contaminants emitted from sources, assessing environmental concentrations and the factors impacting those concentrations, developing monitoring and modeling techniques and formulating strategies to assess exposures in epidemiologic studies.
Dr. Leaderer is the Principal Investigator on three environmental epidemiologic studies. The first is a prospective study investigating the role of indoor and outdoor air contaminant exposures on daily respiratory symptoms in 918 infants and their nonsmoking mothers. The second is a prospective study of the environmental risk factors in the development of asthma in a population of 1,000 infants followed from birth to age 10. The third study is a prospective study of the role of indoor allergens and air contaminants (indoor and outdoor) on the severity of asthma in 1,000 asthmatic children between the ages of 5 and 11. He is also a co-investigator on several other environmental epidemiologic studies, the Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Epidemiology, Interim Dean of Public Health and Co-Director of the Yale Center for Perinatal, Pediatric and Environmental Epidemiology.
Deputy Director of the Center:
Kathleen Belanger, Ph.D.,
Research Scientist
Phone: (203) 764-9375
Fax: (203) 764-9378
E-mail address: kathleen.belanger@yale.edu
Dr. Belanger’s primary research focus is the effects of environmental factors on pregnant women, infants and children. She is conducting a cohort study, with Michelle Bell Ph.D., School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, investigating the effects of exposure to ambient air pollution during pregnancy on birth outcomes, including preterm delivery and aspects of fetal growth. Although previous studies have examined this question using birth certificate data, this is the largest study to use a well characterized cohort (more than 10,000 women) with detailed information about prior pregnancies, residence history during pregnancy, smoking, alcohol consumption, occupational and other exposures. In collaboration with Dr. Kimberly Yonkers, Department of Psychiatry, Dr Belanger is co-investigator in a study of the role of depression and anti-depressant treatment during pregnancy on fetal growth
As Deputy Director of the Center for Perinatal, Pediatric, and Environmental Epidemiology, Dr Belanger is collaborating on studies investigating the role of traffic related pollutants in childhood asthma. These studies have measured exposure to air contaminants inside and outside of children’s homes, and examined the composition of air borne particles and their relationship to asthma symptoms.
In addition, Dr Belanger is the Principal investigator for the New Haven cohort of children enrolled in the National Children’s Study. This is a national study, directed by the National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD), which is enrolling a representative sample of 100,000 children in the United States and following them until age 21. The study will measure a variety of environmental exposures during pregnancy and early childhood and relate these exposures to common childhood conditions including growth and development, asthma, obesity, and accidents.
For the past two years, Dr Belanger has also reviewed epidemiological studies of the health effects of nitrogen dioxide and air borne particles for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). She has contributed substantially to the Integrated Science Assessment for these pollutants, a scientific review to assess the potential need for additional regulatory action.
Research Faculty:
Janneane F. Gent, Ph.D., Research Scientist
Phone: (203) 764-8461
Fax: (203) 764-9378
E-mail address: janneane.gent@yale.edu
Dr. Gent’s primary research focus is the effects of air pollution on childhood asthma. She is a co-investigator on studies specifically focused on exposure to traffic, a major source of air pollution in our region. These studies take advantage of the large data base of ambient air contaminants measured by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at central monitoring sites. Using this information as well as data collected by the research team at the CPPEE inside and outside of study subjects’ homes, Dr. Gent and her colleagues hope to contribute to the understanding of public health effects of short-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution.
Dr. Gent has served as a consultant for the EPA reviewing literature on the effects of nitrogen dioxide and particles on health. Her work for the EPA contributes to the production of their Integrated Science Assessments for these pollutants. This in turn is an important step in the regulatory process that leads to the setting of the National Air Quality Standards.
Dr. Gent is also a co-investigator with Melinda Pettigrew, Ph.D., School of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, on a study of microbial interactions of pathogens involved in otitis media.
Jessica Illuzzi, MD, MS, Assistant Professor, Obstetrics & Gynecology;
Study Coordinator, The National Children's Study
Phone: (203) 764-8462
Fax: (203) 764-9378
E-mail address: jessica.illuzzi@yale.edu
Jessica Illuzzi, MD, MS, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences. A former NIH Women’s Reproductive Health Research Scholar, she completed a graduate degree in epidemiology. Her recent work has focused on evaluating the duration of intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis to prevent neonatal group B streptococcal disease. Her research interests center around the impact of obstetric interventions on perinatal outcomes. Dr. Illuzzi is currently the Study Director for the National Children’s Study at the Yale Center for Perinatal, Pediatric, and Environmental Epidemiology. She also directs the Yale University School of Medicine Clerkship in Obstetrics and Gynecology; she regularly lectures, leads seminars, and is actively involved in curriculum design with strong emphasis on evidenced-based teaching in obstetrics and gynecology.
Lisbet Lundsberg, Ph.D.
Hospital Liaison, The National Children's Study
Phone: (203) 764-5986
Fax: (203) 764-9378
E-mail address: lisbet.lundsberg@yale.edu
Affiliated Faculty:
Michelle L. Bell, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
Phone: (203) 432-9869
Fax: (203) 432-3817
E-mail address: michelle.bell@yale.edu
Josephine Hoh, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Epidemiology & Public Health and Opthalmology
Phone: (203) 785-6831
Fax: (203) 764-9378
E-mail address: josephine.hoh@yale.edu
Theodore L. Holford, Ph.D., Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Epidemiology & Public Health (Biostatistics)
Phone: (203) 785-2838
Fax: (203) 764-9378
E-mail address: theodore.holford@yale.edu
Linda Mayes, MD, Ph.D., Arnold Giselle Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Psychology - Yale Child Study Center
Phone: (203) 785-7205
Fax: (203) 785-7211
E-mail address: linda.mayes@yale.edu
Melinda Pettigrew, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Epidemiology & Public Health
Phone: (203) 785-5220
Fax: (203) 764-6130
E-mail address: melinda.pettigrew@yale.edu
Kimberly Yonkers , MD, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Lecturer (Epidemiology & Public Health)
Phone: (203) 764-6621
Fax: (203) 764-6766
E-mail address: kimberly.yonkers@yale.edu
Fellows:
Kari R. Risnes, MD,
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Phone: (203) 764-9375
Fax: (203) 764-9378
E-mail address: kari.risnes@yale.edu
Paige Wickner, MD
Phone: (203) 764-9375
Fax: (203) 764-9378
E-mail address: paige.wickner@yale.edu
Affiliates:
Helen Kwon, Ph.D., MPH, Kellogg Scholar in Health Disparities
Columbia University School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology
Phone: 212-304-6424; Fax: 212-305-9413; E-mail address: helen.kwon@columbia.edu
Janet Hardy, Ph.D.
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Department of Medicine
Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine
55 Lake Avenue North
Worcester, MA 01655
E-mail address: Janet.Hardy@umassmed.edu
