David Christopher Christiani, M.D.
Title Elkan Blout Professor of Environmental Genetics Institution Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Department EH - Environmental + Occupational Medicine + Epi Address Harvard School of Public Health Building 1, 1401 665 Huntington Ave Boston MA 02115
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Title
Professor of Medicine
Institution
Massachusetts General Hospital
Title
Faculty Affiliate in the Department of Epidemiology
Institution
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Biography
Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts | MD | 1976 | |
Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts | MPH | 1980 | |
Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts | MS | 1981 | |

Overview
David Christiani, MD, MPH, MS, is a Professor of Occupational Medicine and Epidemiology with the School’s Departments of Environmental Health and Epidemiology. He earned his MD in 1976 from Tufts University, and an MS and MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. He did his post-graduate medical training at Boston City Hospital and the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Professor Christiani’s major research interest lies in the interaction between human genes and the environment. In the emerging field of molecular epidemiology, he studies the impact of humans’ exposure to pollutants on health, as well as the how genetic and acquired susceptibility to these diseases along with environmental exposures can lead to acute and chronic pulmonary and cardiovascular disease. He is also developing new methods for assessing health effects after exposure to pollutants and has is very active in environmental and occupational health studies internationally.
In Asia, Africa, and North America, Dr. Christiani and his wide network of collaborators are studying of the reproductive effects of exposure to chemicals, in China; arsenic exposure and bladder and skin cancer, in Taiwan and Bangladesh; exposure to indoor combustion products in respiratory disease in Central America; petrochemical exposures, brain tumors, and leukemia in Taiwan; and the respiratory effects of paraquat exposure in Africa. Preventing these diseases is an ultimate goal.
With his HSPH colleagues, Professor Christiani has developed biologic markers useful for examining pollutant-induced diseases such as lung cancer, bladder cancer, skin cancer, and upper-respiratory-tract inflammation. He led a large molecular and genetic analysis of lung cancer, looking at genetic factors that make people susceptibility to lung cancer and help predict the outcome of treatment. He has also led studies of the acute respiratory effects of toxins in the particles produced by coal-burning power plants. This study is also evaluating molecular markers in nasal and lung fluids of exposed and unexposed workers. With collaborators at the Mass. General Hospital, Professor Christiani isl examining the role of genetic susceptibility in ARDS, as well as biomarkers predictive of outcome and survival for this disorder.
Christiani oversees a landmark 27-year-long study of respiratory disease in cotton-textile workers in Shanghai, China. This study has determined the rate of loss in lung function among dust-exposed workers and uses molecular biology’s tools to evaluate the relationship between exposure to endotoxins produced by bacteria in cotton and acute and chronic lung disease.

Mentoring
Association of Google Trends data and cancer incidence in the United States from 2004 to 2009: the predictive power of search engine data
Summer, 06/11/15 - 08/17/13
Research in the Department of Occupational Medicine, Tongji Medical College School of Public Health
International, 06/16/06 - 08/11/06

Research
The research activities and funding listed below are automatically derived from
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U01ES029520
(NAGEL, ZACHARY DAVID)
Sep 15, 2018 - Jun 30, 2023
Multi-Pathway DNA Repair Capacity Measurements in Lung Cancer Patients and Healthy Controls
Role: Co-Principal Investigator
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U01CA209414
(CHRISTIANI, DAVID C)
Jun 1, 2017 - May 31, 2023
The Boston Lung Cancer Survival Cohort
Role: Principal Investigator
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R56HL134356
(CHRISTIANI, DAVID C)
Sep 16, 2016 - Aug 31, 2018
Whole Blood MicroRNAs as Risk and Survival Biomarkers for ARDS
Role: Principal Investigator
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T32HL116275
(LUSTER, ANDREW D)
Jul 1, 2013 - Jun 30, 2023
Research Training in Pulmonary Immunology and Allergy at MGH
Role: Principal Investigator
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P42ES016454
(BELLINGER, DAVID C)
Apr 12, 2010 - Mar 31, 2016
Superfund Metal Mixtures, Biomarkers and Neurodevelopment
Role: Co-Principal Investigator
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R01ES015533
(CHRISTIANI, DAVID C)
Sep 24, 2007 - May 31, 2013
Arsenic Exposure and Birth Outcomes in Bangladesh
Role: Principal Investigator
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T42OH008416
(CHRISTIANI, DAVID C)
Jul 1, 2005 - Jun 30, 2023
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH EDUCATION AND RESEARCH CENTERS (T42)
Role: Principal Investigator
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T42OH122961
(CHRISTIANI, DAVID C)
Jul 1, 2003 - Jun 30, 2008
EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH.
Role: Principal Investigator
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R01ES011622
(CHRISTIANI, DAVID C)
Sep 23, 2002 - Jul 31, 2008
Arsenic Exposure and Skin Diseases in Bangladesh
Role: Principal Investigator
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R21CA094715
(CHRISTIANI, DAVID C)
Sep 30, 2001 - Aug 31, 2005
Biomarkers of Carcinogen Exposure and Oxidative Injury
Role: Principal Investigator
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R01CA092824
(CHRISTIANI, DAVID C)
Jul 1, 2001 - Jun 30, 2015
Molecular and Genetic Analysis of Lung Cancer Survival
Role: Principal Investigator
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P50CA090578
(JOHNSON, BRUCE E.)
Apr 1, 2001 - Jun 30, 2015
Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center SPORE in Lung Cancer
Role: Co-Principal Investigator
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R01ES009723
(CHRISTIANI, DAVID C)
Aug 15, 2000 - Jul 31, 2006
BRAIN NEOPLASMS, LEUKEMIA &PETROCHEMAL EXPOSURES
Role: Principal Investigator
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R01HL060710
(CHRISTIANI, DAVID C)
Feb 1, 2000 - May 31, 2017
Molecular Epidemiology of ARDS
Role: Principal Investigator
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R01ES009860
(CHRISTIANI, DAVID C)
Mar 1, 1999 - Mar 31, 2016
The Cardiopulmonary Effects of Particulate Exposure
Role: Principal Investigator
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R01CA074386
(CHRISTIANI, DAVID C)
Apr 10, 1997 - Jul 31, 2010
Genetic Susceptibility to Lung Cancer
Role: Principal Investigator
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R01OH003027
(CHRISTIANI, DAVID C)
Feb 1, 1994 - Jan 31, 1999
PETROCHEMICAL EXPOSURE AND REPRODUCTIVE OUTCOMES
Role: Principal Investigator
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P01ES006409
(CHRISTIANI, DAVID C)
Sep 30, 1992 - Dec 31, 1997
MOLECULAR AND GENETIC ANALYSIS OF LUNG CANCER
Role: Principal Investigator
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P42ES005947
(KELSEY, KARL TIMOTHY)
Apr 1, 1992 - Mar 31, 2007
SUPERFUND TOXIC SUBSTANCES--EXPOSURE AND DISEASE
Role: Co-Principal Investigator
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R01OH002421
(CHRISTIANI, DAVID C)
Jun 1, 1988 - Aug 31, 2022
Lung Disease in Chinese Textile Workers
Role: Principal Investigator
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S07RR005446
(WARE, JAMES H)
Apr 1, 1979 - Sep 29, 1993
BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH SUPPORT
Role: Co-Principal Investigator
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T32ES007069
(LADEN, FRANCINE)
Jul 1, 1978 - Jun 30, 2025
Training Program in Environmental Epidemiology
Role: Principal Investigator
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P30ES000002
(WEISSKOPF, MARC G)
Mar 31, 2024
Harvard Chan School NIEHS Center for Environmental Health
Role: Co-Principal Investigator
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P30CA006516
(GLIMCHER, LAURIE HOLLIS)
Nov 30, 2021
Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center
Role: Co-Principal Investigator

Bibliographic
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