Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Harvard School of Public Health	Sc.D.	1994
Harvard School of Public Health	M.P.H.	1990
Albert Einstein College of Medicine	M.D.	1985
Clark University	B.A.	1981

Dr Hauser's research interests are in the fields of reproductive, perinatal and pediatric epidemiology. His research specifically focuses on the effect of environmental chemicals on male and female fertility, pregnancy outcomes and children's health. For the past twenty years, he led the NIH funded study, referred to as the Environment and Reproductive Health (EARTH) study. The EARTH study investigates the effects of chemicals classified as endocrine disruptors on male and female reproductive health endpoints. Examples of specific chemicals of interest include persistent compounds (i.e., flame retardants, PCBs and DDT), and non-persistent chemicals including pesticides, phthalates, parabens and phenols. The EARTH study was conducted in collaboration with physicians and staff from the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School.

He is currently conducting an NIH funded study on the effect of maternal and paternal preconception exposures and maternal prenatal exposures to environmental chemicals on children's health. His research team is collecting information on somatic growth, metabolic health and neurobehavioral outcomes. This study, referred to as the Preconception Environmental exposure And Childhood health Effect (PEACE) study, is co-lead with faculty from Brown University School of Public Health.

He also conducted a NIH and EPA funded prospective cohort study on five hundred boys in Chapaevsk, Russia, where he investigated the relationship of exposure to dioxins, dioxin-like compounds, chlorinated pesticides, lead and phthalates with the boys growth and pubertal development. Children in Chapaevsk were exposed to high levels of dioxins and environmental chemicals due to historic environmental contamination from a large complex of chemical plants in the city. He is currently investigating the association of lead, dioxins, PCBs, organochlorine pesticides and phthalates measured in childhood with semen quality and sperm epigenetics in semen samples collected when the participants were young men. The study is being conducted in collaboration with Russian investigators from the Moscow State University and Chapaevsk Medical Association.