Neurodevelopmental Effects of Early Life Arsenic Exposure

描述（由申请人提供） 博士Maitreyi Mazumdar是波士顿儿童医院神经病学助理和哈佛医学院神经病学讲师。候选人的长期目标是发展一个独立的研究生涯，重点是环境污染物在儿童神经损伤和疾病发展中的作用。Mazumdar博士对这一领域的兴趣是在她获得神经发育毒理学研究金期间发展起来的，当时她意识到孟加拉国环境砷暴露对儿童影响的调查。拟议的职业发展计划包括一个多学科的计划，旨在提供一个激烈的，密切指导，以病人为导向的研究经验，与环境流行病学，暴露评估，先进的生物统计学和风险评估的全面结构的教学课程。在哈佛公共卫生学院环境卫生教授大卫·克里斯蒂安尼博士的指导下，候选人将调查孟加拉国产前和幼儿期砷暴露对儿童神经发育的影响，孟加拉国是一个地下水砷污染水平高的国家。本研究将检查砷暴露与婴儿和儿童神经发育指标的流行病学关联，包括1）头围，2）听力障碍，3）运动功能障碍，4）正式的神经认知测试。这些研究将在600名婴儿的队列中进行，这些婴儿正在参与目前关于砷对生殖健康影响的研究。 年龄在12至24个月之间的其他儿童也将接受神经发育评估。波士顿儿童医院、哈佛医学院和哈佛公共卫生学院的一流临床、研究和教学设施将支持Mazumdar博士实现其职业发展和研究计划的目标。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant) Dr. Maitreyi Mazumdar is an Assistant in Neurology at Children's Hospital Boston and Instructor in Neurology at Harvard Medical School. The candidate's long-term goal is to develop an independent research career focusing on the role of environmental contaminants in the development of neurological Injury and disease in children. Dr. Mazumdar's interests in this field developed during her Fellowship in neurodevelopmental toxicology, when she became aware of investigations of the effects of environmental arsenic exposure on children in Bangladesh. The proposed Career Development Plan incorporates a multi-disciplinary program designed to provide an intense, closely mentored, patient-oriented research experience, associated with a comprehensively structured didactic curriculum in environmental epidemiology, exposure assessment, advanced biostatistics, and risk assessment. Under the mentorship of Dr. David Christiani, Professor of Environmental Health at the Harvard School of Public Health, the candidate will investigate the effect of prenatal and early childhood arsenic exposure on neurodevelopment of children in Bangladesh, a country with high levels of arsenic contamination in groundwater. This research will examine epidemiological associations of arsenic exposure with measures of neurological development In infants and children, including 1) head circumference, 2) hearing impairment, 3) motor dysfunction, and 4) formal neurocognitive testing. The studies will be conducted in a cohort of 600 infants who are participating in a current study of reproductive health effects of arsenic. Additional children between the ages of 12 and 24 months will also be recruited neurodevelopmental assessment. The superb clinical, research, and teaching facilities of Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard School of Public Health will support Dr. Mazumdar in meeting the objectives of her career development and research plans.