Investigating environmental links to disease
Our ground-breaking, multidisciplinary research answers important questions on how chemicals and contaminants in our homes and environment affect fertility, pregnancy, fetal and child development, and health equity. We prioritize filling gaps in knowledge that support clinical decision-making and public policy.
We have written or contributed to more than 180 studies on health and the environment with 23 studies published in peer-reviewed journals in 2020 alone.
UCSF Study Finds Evidence of 55 Chemicals Never Before Reported in People
Scientists at UC San Francisco have detected 109 chemicals in a study of pregnant women, including 55 chemicals never before reported in people and 42 “mystery chemicals,” whose sources and uses are unknown. The chemicals most likely come from consumer products or other industrial sources.
The study was published March 17 in Environmental Science & Technology.
Major Research Areas
Chemicals
We study how harmful chemicals put into our air, food, water, homes, products, and workplaces affect pregnancy, child development, and health.
Plastics
Plastics are a petro-chemical product packed with endocrine-disrupting chemicals that can harm pregnancy, birth outcomes, neurodevelopment, and immune systems.
Climate and Wildfires
We examine how climate is impacting women's and children's health and how to protect pregnant people from wildfire smoke.
Key Research Projects
ECHO
The Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) is the largest NIH-funded study to date to explore how chemicals and pollutants in our environment impact pregnancy and child development.
DREAM
The Discovering cancer Risks from Environmental contaminants And Maternal/child health (DREAM) project collected data to explore how chemicals put in our air, food, and water increase cancer risk.
ENACT Center
In partnership with Stanford University, the Endometriosis Center for Action, Community Engagement and Training (ENACT) will work to improve endometriosis diagnosis and treatment by exploring the origins and environmental links to this disease.
PRHE conducts groundbreaking, multi-disciplinary research that answers important questions of how chemicals and contaminants in our homes and environment affect fertility, pregnancy, and fetal and child development. PRHE also mentors and trains the next generation of environmental health scientists.
Published Studies
Lower socioeconomic status (SES) and elevated psychosocial stress are known contributors to adverse pregnancy outcomes; however, biological mechanisms linking these factors to adverse pregnancy outcomes are not well-characterized. Oxidative stress may be an important, yet understudied mechanistic pathway.
Differential risks for adverse pregnancy outcomes may be influenced by prenatal chemical exposures, but current exposure methods may not fully capture data to identify harms and differences. Multiple exposure-assessment approaches can identify exposure to many chemicals during pregnancy that have not been well-studied for health effects.
Prenatal exposure to individual per‑ and poly‑fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and psychosocial stressors have been associated with reductions in fetal growth. Studies suggest cumulative or joint effects of chemical and non-chemical stressors on fetal growth. However, few studies have examined PFAS and non-chemical stressors together as a mixture, which better reflects real life exposure patterns.
Participants in biomonitoring studies who receive personal exposure reports seek information to reduce exposures. We conducted virtual focus groups during summer 2020 in a diverse group of peripartum people from cohorts in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program (N = 18). We assessed baseline exposure and collective action experience, and report-back preferences.
Dietary alterations can reduce exposure to endocrine disruptors, with limited data on interventions to improve endocrine-disruptor–related clinical outcomes. This review provides useful instruction to women, their families, healthcare providers, and regulatory bodies.
Climate change continues to result in increased exposure to wildfires in California and around the world with smoke reaching far more populations than in recent years. There is increased concern for the health effects of these fires, especially for pregnant people and their developing foetuses.
Wildfire, pregnancy, California, birth defects, commentary
Occupational exposures to flame retardants (FRs), a class of suspected endocrine-disrupting compounds, are of health concern for firefighters. We sought to characterize exposure to FR compounds and evaluate their association with thyroid hormone levels, a biomarker of early effect, in female firefighters and office workers in San Francisco.