Neurodevelopmental Effects of Early Life Arsenic Exposure

描述(由申请人提供) Maitreyi Mazumdar博士是波士顿儿童医院的神经学助理和哈佛医学院的神经学讲师。候选人的长期目标是发展一项独立的研究事业，专注于环境污染物在儿童神经损伤和疾病发展中的作用。马祖姆达尔博士对这一领域的兴趣是在她担任神经发育毒理学研究员期间产生的，当时她意识到环境砷暴露对孟加拉国儿童的影响进行了调查。拟议的职业发展计划结合了一个多学科计划，旨在提供紧张的、密切指导的、以患者为导向的研究经验，并与环境流行病学、暴露评估、高级生物统计学和风险评估的全面结构教学课程相关联。在哈佛大学公共卫生学院环境健康教授David Christian博士的指导下，候选人将调查产前和儿童早期砷暴露对孟加拉国儿童神经发育的影响，孟加拉国是一个地下水中砷污染水平较高的国家。这项研究将研究接触砷与婴儿和儿童神经发育指标的流行病学关系，包括1)头围，2)听力障碍，3)运动障碍，4)正式的神经认知测试。这些研究将在600名婴儿中进行，他们参与了目前一项关于砷对生殖健康影响的研究。其他年龄在12到24个月之间的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一流的临床、研究和教学设施将支持Mazumdar博士实现她的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.