L. H. Lumey, MD, PhD

  • Professor of Epidemiology at the Columbia University Medical Center
212-305-9222
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Overview

Dr. Lumey studied medicine at the Universities of Leiden and Amsterdam in the Netherlands and history and philosophy of science at Darwin College, University of Cambridge, England. He was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to study at Columbia University where he obtained MPH and PhD degrees in epidemiology. After returning to the Netherlands, Dr. Lumey worked at the Academic Medical Center of the University of Amsterdam and the National Institute for Public Health and Environmental Protection RIVM. He later joined the American Health Foundation in New York and was Director of the New York City Perinatal HIV Transmission Collaborative Study before being recruited to the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia. Over the last decades, Dr. Lumey completed a number of single and multi-generation cohort studies worldwide to investigate the relation between maternal nutrition in pregnancy and health outcomes in the offspring. These studies include men and women exposed to malnutrition during the Ukraine famine of 1932-33, the Dutch famine of 1944-45, and the Chinese famine of 1959-61. He has reported extensively on morbidity and mortality, including birth outcomes, infant growth, and adult health, including epigenetic changes. With collaborators in Leiden, he published in 2008 the first study in humans linking prenatal famine to persisting epigenetic changes in DNA methylation of the IGF2 gene. Further studies in the Dutch famine population show that DNA methylation could be an epigenetic mediator of the impact of prenatal nutrition on adult health.

Academic Appointments

  • Professor of Epidemiology at the Columbia University Medical Center

Credentials & Experience

Education & Training

  • MD, 1982 University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • MPH, 1985 Columbia University
  • PhD, 1988 Columbia University

Committees, Societies, Councils

Extraordinary Member, Royal Netherlands Medical Association KNMG

Editorial Boards

International Journal of Epidemiology 2019-2022

Honors & Awards

1982-86 Fulbright Fellow, Columbia University
2008-09 Lorentz Fellow, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, NIAS, Wassenaar
2015 George G. Graham Annual Lecture, Center for Human Nutrition, Johns Hopkins University
2022-23 NIDI Fellow, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, NIAS, Amsterdam

Research

Research Interests

  • Birth Cohorts
  • Public Health Research Methods

Selected Publications

Lumey LH, Li C, Khalangot M, Levchuk N, Wolowyna O. Fetal exposure to the Ukraine famine of 1932-1933 and adult type 2 diabetes mellitus. Science 2024 Aug 9;385(6709):667-671. doi: 10.1126/science.adn4614.

Li C, Ó Gráda C, Lumey LH. Famine mortality and contributions to later-life type 2 diabetes at the population level: a synthesis of findings from Ukrainian, Dutch and Chinese famines. BMJ Glob Health 2024 Aug 29;9(8):e015355. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2024-015355.

Cheng M, Conley D, Kuipers T, Li C, Ryan C, Taubert J, Wang S, Wang T, Zhou J, Schmitz LL, Tobi EW, Heijmans B, Lumey LH, Belsky DW. Accelerated biological aging six decades after prenatal famine exposure. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Jun 11;121(24):e2319179121. doi: 0.1073/pnas.2319179121.

Li C, Lumey LH. Exposure to the Chinese Famine of 1959-1961 in early life and long-term health conditions: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Epidemiol 2017; 46:1157-1170. doi:10.1093/ije/dyx013.

Ekamper P, van Poppel F, Stein AD, Bijwaard GE, Lumey LH. Prenatal Famine Exposure and Adult Mortality through Age 63 Years from Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease and Other Causes. Am J Epidemiol 2015 Feb 15; 181 (4): 271-279. doi:10.1093/aje/kwu288.

Lumey LH, Stein AD, Susser E. Prenatal Famine and Adult Health. Annu Rev Publ Hlth 2011; (32) 237- 62. doi/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031210-101230.

Tobi EW, Lumey LH, Talens RP, Kremer D, Putter H, Stein AD, et al. DNA methylation differences after exposure to prenatal famine are common and timing- and sex-specific. Hum Mol Genet 2009;18(21):4046-53. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddp353.

Heijmans BT, Tobi EW, Stein AD, Putter H, Blauw GJ, Susser ES, Slagboom PE, Lumey LH. Persistent epigenetic differences associated with prenatal exposure to famine in humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2008;105(44):17046-9. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0806560105.

Lumey LH, Stein AD, Kahn HS, van der Pal-de Bruin KM, Blauw GJ, Zybert PA, et al. Cohort profile: the Dutch Hunger Winter families study. Int J Epidemiol 2007;36(6):1196-204. doi: 10.1093/ije/dym126.

For a complete list of publications, please visit PubMed.gov

Global Health Activities

First international workshop on the long term consequences of famine in human populations, Leiden, Netherlands, 2008. Organizer. https://www.lorentzcenter.nl/long-term-consequences-of-exposure-to-famin...

Visiting Professor, Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, 2013

Visiting Professor, Universidade Federal de Ciencias da Saude de Porto Alegre, Brazil, 2014

International workshop on Early Health Disparities and Later-Life Outcomes, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2023. Organizer. https://nias.knaw.nl/events/workshop-lumey-early-health-disparities