Environmental epigenetics – integrating public health into precision medicine
December 4, 2020
Andrea Baccarelli, MD, Ph.D.
Director of the Laboratory of Precision Environmental Biosciences and Chair of the Environmental Health Sciences Department at Columbia University, a leading research educational and public outreach center in Environmental Health.
He received both his PhD in Environmental Health and Molecular Epidemiology and his MPH from the University of Milan, Italy. Prior to joining Columbia University in 2016, he was Associate Professor at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Baccarelli's research explores epigenetic and molecular mechanisms as potential functional pathways linking exposures to environmental pollutants to human disease.
Recent and ongoing projects investigate health effects from environmental exposures, including particulate air pollution, metals, Bisphenol A, phthalates, and pesticides, and common risk factors, such as psychosocial violence, second-hand smoking, and maternal diet and metabolic alterations.
His laboratory has been conducting studies on the US population, as well as in highly-exposed groups or special conditions of exposure at several international locations in China, Canada, Mexico, Italy, Israel, Poland, Thailand, Oman, Bulgaria, Russia, and other countries.
He is currently the PI on multiple NIH-funded projects and since 2010, his lab has produced publications at the intersection of epigenetics, molecular epidemiology and environmental health, with one of his recent papers named Paper of the Year by Environmental Health Perspectives, the leading journal in environmental health research.