Brian Paul Leaderer MPH, PhD
Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Epidemiology (Environmental Health) and Professor of Forestry And Environmental Studies; Deputy Dean of Public Health
Research Interests
Exposures to air contaminants; Air quality issues
Current Projects
- Traffic and Respiratory Health
- Indoor and Outdoor NO2 and Asthma Severity in Children
- Asthma Severity in Children and Fine Particle Composition
- Gene-Environment Interactions in Asthma Development
- Genetic and Environmental Risk Factors in Asthma Severity
- The Yale Center for Public Health Preparedness.
Research Summary
Dr. Leaderer's research interests are 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, typically focusing on indoor air quality issues, its purpose 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 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 Principal Investigator on three environmental epidemiologic studies:
- Prospective study investigating the role of indoor and outdoor air contaminant exposures on daily respiratory symptoms in 918 infants and their nonsmoking mothers;
- 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; and
- 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.
Selected Publications
- Gent JF, Belanger K, Triche E, Bracken MB, Beckett WS, Leaderer BP. Association of pediatric asthma severity with exposure to common household dust allergens. Environ Res. 2009; 109(6):768-774. Epub 2009.
- Bundy KW, Gent JF, Beckett W, Bracken MB, Belanger K, Triche E, Leaderer BP. Household airborne Penicillium associated with peak flow variability in asthmatic children. Ann Aller Asth Immunol. 2009; 103:26-30.
- Gent JF, Koutrakis P, Belanger K, Triche E, Holford TR, Bracken MB, Leaderer BP. Symptoms and medication use in children with asthma and traffic-related sources of fine particle pollution. Environ Health Perspect. 2009
- Pettigrew MM, Gent JF, Zhu Y, Triche EW, Belanger KD, Holford TR, Bracken MB, Leaderer BP. Respiratory symptoms among infants at risk for asthma: association with surfactant protein A haplotypes. BMC Genetics 8:15, doi:10.1186/1471-2350-8-15, 2007
- Triche, E.W., Gent, J.F., Holford, T.R., Belanger, K., Bracken, M.B., Beckett, W.S., Naeher, L., McSharry, J-e., and Leaderer, B.P. Low Level Ozone Exposure and Respiratory Symptoms in Infants. Environmental Health Perspectives 114(6): 911-916, 2006.
- Pettigrew, M.M., Gent, J.F., Zhu, Y., Triche, E.W., Belanger, K.D., Holford, T.R., Bracken, M.B., and Leaderer, B.P. Association of Surfactant Protein A Polymorphisms with Otitis Media in Infants at Risk for Asthma. BMC Medical Genetics, 2006 7:68.
- Belanger, K., Gent, J.F., Triche, E.W., Bracken, M.B., and Leaderer, B.P. Association of Indoor Nitrogen Dioxide Exposure with Respiratory Symptoms in Children with Asthma. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 173(3): 297-303, 2006.
- Triche, E.W., Belanger, K., Hellenbrand, K., Bracken, M.B., Beckett, W.S., Holford, T.R., Gent, J.F., McSharry, J-e., and Leaderer, B.P. Indoor Heating Sources and Respiratory Symptoms in Nonsmoking Women. Epidemiology 16: 377-384, 2005.
- Triche, E.W., Belanger, K., Hellenbrand, K., Bracken, M.B., Beckett, W.S., Holford, T.R., Gent, J.F., McSharry, J-e., and Leaderer, B.P. Indoor Heating Sources and Respiratory Symptoms in Nonsmoking Women. Epidemiology 16: 377-384, 2005.
- Litonjua, A.A., Belanger, K., Celed, C., Milton, D.K., Bracken, M.B., Kraft, P., Triche, E.W., Weiss, S.T., Leaderer, B.P., and Gold, D.R. Polymorphisms in the 5' Region of the CD14 Gene are Associated with Eczema in Young Children. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 115: 1056-1062, 2005.
