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Joseph H. Graziano, Ph.D., Professor of Environmental Health Sciences and Pharmacology; Associate Dean for Research
Dr. Graziano's areas of interest include environmental exposures to metals and metalloids. He is actively involved in research concerning childhood lead poisoning, mercury exposure, iron metabolism and toxicity, and arsenic exposure from drinking water. Dr. Graziano was also the founding director of the NIEHS Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan, whose central theme stresses understanding and preventing environmental components of disease in underprivileged populations. In the NIEHS Center, Dr. Graziano directs the Trace Metal Core Laboratory.
Essential minerals and non-essential heavy metals are involved in many disease processes, most notably in neurologic diseases, hematologic diseases and certain cancers. Dr. Graziano's laboratory is primarily interested in the consequences of metal exposure on neurologic development in children and other health outcomes. The exposed populations of interest have included: 1) Lead-poisoned children in New York City. His laboratory developed a highly effective oral medication for the treatment of childhood lead poisoning. The drug, 2,3dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA, or Succimer), was approved by the FDA in 1991. 2) Leadexposed women and children in Kosovo, Yugoslavia. Dr. Graziano was the principal investigator of a landmark, 15-year prospective study that elucidated the dose-response relationships between lead exposure, pregnancy outcomes and childhood development. That study still yields novel findings about lead exposure and various health outcomes. 3) Arsenic-exposed women and children in Bangladesh. Dr. Graziano is currently the Director of a Superfund Basic Research Program entitled "Health Effects and Geochemistry of Arsenic and Lead." He directs a multi-disciplinary team of health, earth and social scientists who aim to elucidate the dose-response relationships between well water arsenic concentration and a variety of health outcomes, while at the same time developing strategies to reduce arsenic exposure in Bangladesh. The role of arsenic metabolism, which is quite variable from person to person, is also being examined. During the past 15-20 years, as many as 40 million residents of Bangladesh have been exposed to arsenic from naturally occurring ground water sources. The epidemic of arsenicosis in Bangladesh may represent the worst environmental health disaster of the 20th century.
Link to Columbia University's Superfund Basic Research Program http://superfund.ciesin.columbia.edu/home.html
Publications:
Wasserman, G, Liu, X, Parvez, F, Ahsan, H, Factor-Litvak, P, van Geen, A, Slavkovich, V, LoIacono, NJ, Cheng, Z, Hussain, I, Momotaj, H, Graziano, JH. Water arsenic exposure and children’s intellectual function in Araihazar, Bangladesh. Environ Hlth Perspect 112:1329-1333, 2004.
Graziano, J, Slavkovich, V, Liu, X, Factor-Litvak, P. A prospective study of prenatal and childhood lead exposure and erythropoietin production. Occup Environ Med 46(9):924-929, 2004.
van Geen, A, Zheng Y, Versteeg R, Stute M, Horneman A, Dhar R, Steckler M, Gelman A, Small C, Ahsan H, Graziano J, Hussein I, Ahmed KM. Spatial variability of arsenic in 6000 contiguous tube wells of Araihazar, Bangladesh. Water Resources Res. 39(5): 1140-1151, 2003.
Wasserman, G, Factor-Litvak, P, Liu, X, Todd, AC, Kline, J, Slavkovich, V, Popovac, D, Graziano, JH: The relationship between blood lead, bone lead and child intelligence. Neuropsychol Dev Cogn C Child Neuropsychol. 9(1):22-34, 2003.
Factor-Litvak, P, Hasselgren, G, Jacobs, D, Begg, M, Kline, J, Geier, J, Mervish, N, Schoenholz, S, Graziano, J. Mercury derived from dental amalgams and neuropsychological function. Environ Health Perspect 111(5): 719-723, 2003.
van Geen, A, Horneman, A, Dhar, R, Zheng, Y, Stute, M, Simpson, HJ, Wallace, S, Small, C, Ahsan, H, Parvez, F, Slavkovic, V, LoIacono, N, Gelman, A, Becker, M, Hussein, I, Momotaj, H, Ahmed, KM, Graziano, JH. Well-switching in Bangladesh: A possible solution to the arsenic crisis? Bull World Health Org 80: 732-737, 2002.
Ahsan, H, Rahman, A, Perrin, M, Stute, M, Hasnat, A, van Geen, A, Graziano, JH. Associations between water arsenic, urinary arsenic, and skin lesions in Bangladesh. J Occup Environ Med 42: 1195-1201, 2000.
Factor-Litvak, P, Wasserman, G, Kline, JK, Graziano, J. The Yugoslavia prospective study of environmental lead exposure. Environ Health Perspect 107:9-15, 1999.
Maddaloni, M, LoIacono, N, Manton, W, Blum, C, Drexler, J, Graziano, JH. Bioavailability of soil-borne lead in adults, by stable isotope dilution. Environ Health Perspect 106:1589-1594, 1998.
Factor-Litvak, P, Slavkovich, V, Liu, X, Popovac, D, Preteni, E, Capuni-Paracka, S, Hadzialjevic, S, Lekic, V, LoIacono, N, Kline, J, Graziano, J. Hyperproduction of erythropoeitin in nonanemic lead-exposed children. Environ Health Perspect 106:361-364, 1998.
Wasserman, GA, Liu, X, LoIacono, NJ, Slavkovich, V, Popovac, D, Morina, N, Musabegovic, A, Vrenezi, N, Capuni-Paracka, S, Lekic, V, Preteni-Redjepi, E, Hadjialjevic, S, Kline, Factor-Litvak, P, Graziano, JH. Lead exposure and intelligence in 7 year-old children: The Yugoslavia Prospective Study. Environ Health Perspect 105:956-962, 1997.
