Muhammad Parvez

I have more than 25 years of experience as an international public health scientist, conducting and implementing collaborative research and scaling up programs in different countries. I received my DrPH degree with distinction in Environmental Health Sciences from Columbia University. I am a trained environmental epidemiologist with extensive experience in study design, implementation and data analysis. My research primarily focuses on the health effects of environmental risk factors with emphasis on metal exposure on lung disease and associated biomarkers. Along with Dr. Habib Ahsan and Dr. Joseph Graziano (Co-I), I established the Health Effects of Arsenic Longitudinal Study (HEALS) in Bangladesh, a cohort of ~40,000 adults. I have completed two studies (R01 ES019968-02S1 and R01 ES023888) that focused on exposure to arsenic and smoking on lung function and immune functions in the HEALS cohort. Currently, I am conducting studies examining the role of in utero and early life exposure to metal mixtures on lung function in children (R01 ES029974). Another similar project that I am conducting aims to examine effects of early life exposure to arsenic on immune function, the microbiome, vaccine response and respiratory infection among infants (R01ES031743). I am an active member of the respiratory outcomes working group of the Columbia NIEHS Center, which has been supporting studies evaluating environmental exposures in the U.S., India and a number of countries in Africa. I have conducted research and published on lung injuries and immune function. My current project is a natural progression of my ongoing work and interests on the effects of exposure to arsenic on immune function, infection and vaccine response. My extensive experience, expertise, training, and leadership will help me to successfully conduct this study.