Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine

University of California, Davis Public Health Sciences
102 TB 168
Davis, CA 95616
E-mail:  ihp@ucdavis.edu

Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Ph.D., Professor, is an internationally renowned environmental epidemiologist who received her BA in mathematics, MA in biostatistics, and PhD/MPH in epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley.  During 12 years on the faculty at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and since her arrival at the University of California, Davis in 2002, she has published widely on environmental exposures, including metals, pesticides, PCBs, and air pollution, and their effects on pregnancy and early child development.  She is also a foremost expert in epidemiologic methods. 

Now in the UC Davis Department of Public Health Sciences, she directs a large research program with numerous grants from NIH (National Institutes of Health) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In 2002, she turned her attention to the problem of autism, and launched the CHARGE Study (Childhood Autism Risk from Genetics and the Environment), which is the largest epidemiologic study of confirmed cases of autism to date, and the first major investigation of environmental factors and gene-environment interactions in this disorder; more recently, Dr. Hertz-Picciotto initiated the MARBLES Study (Markers of Autism Risk in Babies – Learning Early Signs), a prospective investigation that follows women who have already delivered one child with autism beginning early or even before a subsequent pregnancy, to search for early markers that predict autism in the younger sibling.  She is Director of the Northern California Center for the National Children’s Study, a landmark nationwide investigation aimed at determining prenatal influences on development and diseases in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood beginning before birth and extended to age 21. 

Other research projects include a longitudinal study from birth through childhood of PCB exposures in eastern Slovakia and another of air pollutants in relation to respiratory health and immune markers in the Czech Republic.  Dr. Hertz-Picciotto has been elected President of two major epidemiology societies (Society for Epidemiologic Research and International Society for Environmental Epidemiology) and has held appointments on the Governor’s Carcinogen Identification Committee for the State of California, the Scientific Advisory Boards for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Toxicology Program. Twice she served as Scientific Advisor to the NIH Interagency Coordinating Committee on Autism Research, and in 2006, she chaired the NIEHS Expert Panel Workshop on the CDC’s Vaccine Safety Database for Studies of Autism and Thimerasol. She is author of over 150 papers, and has served or currently sits on editorial boards for the American Journal of Epidemiology, Environmental Health Perspectives, Epidemiology, and Autism Research.  In 2000 and 2002, Dr. Hertz-Picciotto chaired the U.S. Institute of Medicine/National Academy of Sciences Committees on the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to Agent Orange and other Herbicides.   She directed the program in Reproductive Epidemiology at UNC Chapel Hill in the late 1990s and is now the Deputy Director of the Center for Children’s Environmental Health at UC Davis.  She won the coveted Abraham Lilienfeld Student Prize award by the Society for Epidemiologic Research for her own dissertation on tapwater consumption and spontaneous abortions, taught courses on four continents, was awarded the UNC Chapel Hill Bernard Greenberg Award for Excellence in Teaching, and has mentored well over 50 doctoral students.

B.A. University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 1970
M.P.H. University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 1984
M.A. University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 1985
Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, Berkeley, California, 1989

Hertz-Picciotto I, Dostál M, Yap P-S, Baker RJ, Joad JP, Lipsett M, Herr CEW, Greenfield T, Benes I, Shumway RH, Pinkerton KE, Šrám R (2007).  Early childhood lower respiratory illness and air pollution.  Environ Health Persp Perspect 115(10):1510-8. PMID: 17938744.  Early childhood bronchitis is a major cause of morbidity and a common reason for missed work days of parents.  Higher ambient levels of fine particles and PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) during the previous month were found to increase the risk of bronchitis, after adjusting for temperature, season, and a host of maternal and household exposures. 

Ashwood P, Kwong C, Hansen R, Hertz-Picciotto I, Croen L, Krakowiak P, Walker W, Pessah IN, Van de Water J (2008).  Brief report: Plasma leptin levels are elevated in autism: association with early onset phenotype? J Autism Dev Disorders.  2008 Jan;38(1):169-75. This investigation showed a link between levels of leptin, a cytokine or immune signaling molecule as well as an appetite suppressant, and autism.  This association was most pronounced in children whose autism was early in life. 

Sonneborn D, Park H-Y, Petrik J, Kočan A, Palkovičova L, Trnovec T, Nguyen DV, Hertz-Picciotto I (2008) Prenatal PCB exposures in Eastern Slovakia modify effects of social factors on birthweight.  Paediatr Perinatal Epidemiol 22(3):202-13.  Previous reports suggested that PCB exposures during gestation may be associated with lower birth weight, with several studies suggesting boys to be more susceptible to this effect.  A highly exposed cohort of over 1000 children was examined, and boys of Roma ethnicity were found to have lower birth weight if PCB exposures were high. As the Roma are a socially disadvantaged ethnic minority, these results suggest that social disadvantage may increase vulnerability to the toxic effects of PCBs.  

Palkovičova L, Ursinyova M, Hladikova V, Yu Z, Hertz-Picciotto I (2008). Maternal amalgam dental fillings as a major source of mercury in the developing fetus and newborn.  J Expos Science & Env Epidemiol 18:326-31. A strong association was found between the number of maternal amalgam dental fillings and the newborn’s blood concentration of total mercury. 

Park H-Y, Hertz-Picciotto I, Petrik J, Palkovičova L, Kočan A, Trnovec T (2008).  Prenatal PCB exposure and thymus size at birth.  Environ Health Perspect. 2008 Jan;116(1):104-9 PMID: 18197307.  Although animal studies show PCBs to be potent immunotoxins, with several species experiencing thymic atrophy, this is the first report in humans demonstrating that higher exposures to PCBs are related to smaller thymus size in the newborn.  

Park J-S, Bergman Å, Linderholm L, Athanasiadou M, Kočan A, Petrik J, Drobna B, Trnovec T, Charles MJ, Hertz-Picciotto I (2008 Feb).  Placental transfer of polychlorinated biphenyls, their hydroxylated metabolites, and pentachlorophenol in pregnant women from eastern Slovakia.  Chemosphere 70:1676-84.  The OH-PCBs appear to cross the placenta more readily than the parent compounds.  Thus, prenatal exposures to these metabolites may have been higher, relatively speaking, than to the parent compounds.

Sonneborn D, Park H-Y, Babinska K, Nguyen DV, Palkovičova L, Trnovec T, Kočan A, Hertz-Picciotto I (2008).  Serum PCB concentrations in relation to locally produced food items in eastern Slovakia. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2008 Feb 20 (epub ahead of print) PMID: 18285840  In this highly contaminated region, consumption of locally produced fat, particularly from pork, was a major contributor to circulating levels of PCBs. 

Grandjean P, Bellinger D, Bergman A, Cordier S, Dave-Smith G, Eskenazi B, Gee D, Gray K, Hanson M, van den Hazel P, Heindel JJ, Heinzow B, Hertz-Picciotto I, Hu H, Huang TT-K, Jensen TK, Landrigan PJ, McMillen IC, Murata K, Ritz B, Schoeters G, Skakkebaek NE, Skerfving S, Weihe P (2008).  The Faroes Statement: Human health effects of developmental exposure to chemicals in our environment.  Basic & Clin Pharmacol Toxicol 102(2):73-5.  This consensus statement provides the rationale for investigation of exposures to environmental chemicals during early life, including the prenatal period.  Fetuses and infants may be the most vulnerable members of our society, and may suffer unique and long-term consequences from such exposures. 

Gregg J, Lit L, Baron C, Hertz-Picciotto I, Walker W, Davis R, Croen LA, Ozonoff S, Hansen R, Pessah I, Sharp FR (2008).  Gene expression changes in children with autism.  Genomics 2008 Jan;91(1):22-9.  Using blood specimens from children enrolled in the CHARGE Study, this project investigated which genes are differentially expressed in those with autism as compared with population-based typically developing controls.  A subset of these genes were confirmed by two techniques, and interestingly, were found to be highly expressed in specific immunophenotypes of lymphocytes known as NK (Natural Killer) cells. 

Hertz-Picciotto I, Park H-Y, Dostal M, Kočan A, Trnovec T, Šrám R (2008 Feb).  Prenatal exposures to persistent and non-persistent organic compounds and effects on immune system development.  Basic Clin Pharmacol Toxicol 102(2):146-54.  PMID:  18226068.  This review examines the role of certain classes of environmental chemicals as immunotoxins. 

Hansen RL, Ozonoff S, Krakowiak P, Angkustsiri K, Jones C, Deprey LJ, Le D-N, Croen L, Hertz-Picciotto I (2008 Jan-Feb).  Regression in autism: prevalence and associated factors in the CHARGE Study.  Ambul Pediatr 8(1):25-31. PMID: 18191778.  A variety of previous reports have suggested that 15% or more of children with autism experienced some form of regression, i.e., loss of skills.  This evaluation of children in the CHARGE study found that up to 41% of children with autism either lost social skills or language. 

Krakowiak, P, Goodlin-Jones B, Croen LA, Hertz-Picciotto I, Hansen RL (2008 Jun).  Sleep problems in young children with autism spectrum disorder. J Sleep Research 17(2):197-206. 

Braunschweig D, Ashwood P, Krakowiak P, Hertz-Picciotto I, Hansen R, Croen LA, Pessah IN, Van de Water JA (2008).  Autism: maternally derived antibodies specific for fetal brain proteins. Neurotoxicology 29:226-231. Epub 2007 Nov 6. Mothers of children with autism from the CHARGE study were found to be sensitized to fetal brain tissue.  This finding points to an immunologic underpinning a subset of autism cases, originating in the prenatal period.  

Hertz-Picciotto I, Jusko TA, Charles MJ, Baker RJ, Keller JA, Greenfield TA, Willman E, Teplin S (2008). A cohort study of in utero polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposures in relation to secondary sex ratio.  Environ Health (in press).  PCBs are endocrine disrupting chemicals that are pervasive in the environment, even though they were banned several decades ago.  This project found that mothers with higher levels of PCBs circulating in the bloodstream were less likely to deliver a boy.  Although these chemicals are slowsly declining, other endocrine disruptors with similar chemical structures and toxicity, such as brominated flame retardants, are increasing in our environment.   

Van Meter KC, Christiansen LE, Hertz-Picciotto I, Azari R, Carpenter T (2008).  A procedure to characterize geographic distributions of rare disorders in cohorts. International Journal of Health Geographics 7:26.  http://www.ij-healthgeographics.com/content/7/1/26.  This paper provides the methodology for spatial analyses of rare disorders, such as autism.

Hertz-Picciotto I, Delwiche L. The Continuing Rise in Autism and the Role of Age at Diagnosis.  Epidemiology (in press, May 2008).  This analysis of data from the California Department of Developmental Services Regional Center system looks at trends over time.  It addresses how much of the observed increases can be accounted for by factors such as earlier diagnosis.

Longnecker MP, Wolff MS, Gladen BC, Brock JW, Grandjean P, Jacobson JL, Korrick SA, Rogan WJ, Weisglas-Kuperus N, Hertz-Picciotto I, Ayotte P, Stewart P, Winneke G, Charles MJ, Jacobson SW, Dewailly E, Boersma R, Altshul LM, Heinzow B, Jensen AA. Comparison of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) levels across studies of human neurodevelopment. Environ Health Persp 111:65-70, 2003. A comparison of the concentrations of PCB exposures in nearly a dozen studies of prenatal exposures in relation to early childhood development.

Dole N, Savitz DA, Hertz-Picciotto I, Siega-Riz AM, McMahon MJ, Buekens P. Maternal stress and preterm birth.  Amer J Epidemiol 157:14-24, 2003. Preterm birth puts an infant at higher risk for some developmental outcomes, and is often also a marker for unfavorable intrauterine circumstances. This study observed that women with higher levels of psychological anxiety experienced a higher rate of preterm delivery, providing some, albeit limited, evidence that maternal mental state is important to fetal development.

Hertz-Picciotto I, Trnovec T, Kocan T, Charles MJ, Inar P, Langer P, Sovikova E, James R. PCB's and early childhood development in Slovakia: Study design and background.  Fresenius Environmental Bulletin 12: 208-214, 2003. This paper describes a recently launched epidemiologic study of a population with exposures to PCBs that are among the highest in the world. This prospective cohort study will follow approximately 1200 children from two towns in eastern Slovakia, measure prenatal exposure from serum specimens, and conduct neurodevelopmental and immunologic tests at various time points from birth through the first few years of life.  It will be the largest study of its type to date, and addresses key aspects of neuro- and immuno-development in human populations.

O'Neill MS, Hertz-Picciotto I, Pastore LM, Weatherly B. Have studies of urinary tract infection and preterm delivery used the most appropriate methods?  Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol 17(3):226-233, 2003. This methodologic investigation of analytic methods used for pregnancy outcome studies highlights the problem of time-dependent exposures and time-dependent outcomes. We demonstrate the bias that can result from use of simplistic regression models.

Hopenhayn C, Ferreccio C, Browning SR, Huang B, Peralta C, Gibb H, Hertz-Picciotto I. Lower birthweight associated with maternal exposure to moderate levels of arsenic in drinking water.  Epidemiology 14:593-602, 2003. This study of pregnancy outcome was conducted in two areas of Chile, one in the north, where levels of arsenic have been consistently elevated, and one in the south, where arsenic in drinking water is minimal.  Children in the northern region, which historically was more affluent, experienced lower birth weight, after adjustment for numerous contribution and confounding factors.  This investigation followed up an earlier study of the same region that examined time trends and indicated a possible role of arsenic exposure in increasing fetal and infant mortality.

Renwick AG, Barlow SM, Hertz-Picciotto I, Boobis AR, Dybing E, Edler L, Eisenbrand G, Greig JB, Kleiner J, Lambe J, Muller DJG, Smith MR, Tritscher A, Tuijtelaars S, van den Brandt PA, Walker R, Kroes R. Risk characterization of chemicals in food and diet.  Food Chem Toxicol 41(9):1211-71, 2003. Summary of a working group from the International Life Sciences Institute on methods to characterize risks from chemicals in food and diet.

Harville EW, Schramm M, Watt-Morse M, Chantala K, Anderson JJB, Hertz-Picciotto I. Sources of calcium among white and African-American pregnant women.  J Amer Coll Nutr 23(1):43-50, 2004. In a low-income urban study population of about 50% white and 50% African-American, over 1/3 of the pregnant women were consuming less than the RDA (recommended daily allowance) for calcium, and about 1/4 were below the AI (adequate intake) level of 1000 mg/day.  Six percent were consuming less than 600 mg/day, and  younger women were at the highest risk for inadequate calcium. 

Richardson DB, Wing S, Lorey F, Hertz-Picciotto I. Adult Hemoglobin Levels at Birth and Risk of SIDS.  Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 158:366-371, 2004.   
This study demonstrated a clear dose-response relationship in which the lower the percentage of adult hemoglobin in the infant's blood, the greater the risk for death from SIDS.  Using a population-based sample of over 3 million births in California and the newborn blood spots collected by the state's Newborn Screening Program, we found that the adult hemoglobin at the time of birth predicted a later SIDS event.  The importance of this investigation is that it provides the strongest indication to date that hematologic events in the prenatal period are related to SIDS.

Dole N, Savitz DA, Siega-Riz AM, Hertz-Picciotto I, McMahon M, Buekens P. Psychosocial factors and preterm birth among African-American and White women in central North Carolina.  Amer J Pub Health 94:1358-1365, 2004.   This study surveyed 1898 women who used university and public health prenatal clinics regarding various psychosocial factors. The results indicated that African Americans were at higher risk of preterm birth if they used distancing from problems as a coping mechanism or reported racial discrimination. Whites were at higher risk if they had high counts of negative life events or were not living with a partner. The association of pregnancy-related anxiety with preterm birth weakened when medical comorbidities were taken into account. No association with preterm birth was found for depression, general social support, or church attendance.

Hertz-Picciotto I (Chair), Berhane KT, Bleecker ML, Engstrom PF, Fenske RA, Gasiewicz TA, Guidotti TL, Koller LD, Stegeman JJ, Strogatz DS [Committee to review the health effects in Vietnam Veterans of exposure to herbicides (Fourth Biennial Update)], Veterans and Agent Orange, Update 2000.  Institute of Medicine (IOM), Washington, DC. National Academy Press, 2003. This report reviewed and evaluated the available scientific evidence regarding the association between exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) or other chemical compounds contained in herbicides used in Vietnam and a wide range of health effects. The report provided information for the secretary of veterans affairs to consider as the Department of Veterans Affairs carried out its responsibilities to Vietnam veterans. It also described areas in which the available scientific data were insufficient to determine whether an association exists and provided the committee's recommendations for future research.

PCB Exposures and Sex Ratio, International Society for Environmental Epidemiology,
Perth, Australia, September 2003.

Preliminary observations on endocrine disrupting effects of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the population exposed to heavy environmental pollution, International Society for Environmental Epidemiology, Perth, Australia, September 2003.

Prenatal heptachlor epoxide exposure and cognitive development, International Society for Environmental Epidemiology, Perth, Australia, September 2003.

Vietnam Veterans and Agent Orange, Invited Speaker, American Public Health Association, San Francisco, CA, Nov 2003.

Infant and Child Neurotoxicity Studies: Subtle and Long-Term Effects, Invited Speaker, Twenty-first International Neurotoxicology Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, February 2004.

Environmental Factors in Autism, Invited Speaker, Twenty-first International Neurotoxicology Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, February 2004.

Fetal and Early Childhood Growth in Relation to Prenatal PCB Exposures: Results from the Child Health and Development Study, Invited Speaker, Northern California Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH) Semi-annual meeting, February 25, 2004. 

Reproductive Epidemiology: Timing is Everything, Invited Speaker, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, April 2004.

Causal inference and the design of case-control studies, American Epidemiological Society 77th Annual Meeting, Seattle WA, March 2004,

Case-control studies, causal inference, and the assessment of validity, Invited Speaker, National Cancer Institute Distinguished Lecture in Occupational & Environmental Health, Bethesda, MD, June 2004.
 

Co-Principal Investigator (Pessah, PI): Environmental Factors in the Etiology of autism, NIEHS, 9/01-8/31/06, $1,000,000 annually.  Project 1- (PI: I Hertz-Picciotto: Environmental Epidemiology of Autism) $250,000 annually. This Center will carry out a multi-disciplinary investigation of environmental factors and autism.  Epidemiologic, in vivo primate, and cell system studies are included as complementary units.  Project 1 is a case control epidemiologic study that will address a broad array of environmental exposures, susceptibility factors, and their interaction in the etiology of autism.

Co-investigator: Epidemiology of Exertion, Stress, and Preterm Delivery, NICHD/NIH, 11/99-1/05, $367,925 annual direct. This project is designed to comprehensively address exertion and stress during pregnancy in a prospective cohort study of 2,000 women who enrolled for prenatal care at Wake County Human Services Department/Wake Medical Center before the end of the 24th week of gestation.

Principal Investigator: Early Childhood Health Effects of Air Pollution, Health Effects Institute, 07/00-10/04, $213,625 annual direct. This study will examine childhood morbidity during the first three years of life in a birth cohort from the Czech Republic in relation to measures of particulate matter and other pollutants during the pre- and post-natal period.

Principal Investigator: Early Childhood Development and PCB Exposures in Slovakia, NIH/NCI, 09/01-08/05, $495,269 annual direct. This study will examine prenatal and postnatal PCB exposures in relation to immune markers in early childhood, growth, and neurobehavioral development.  The focus is on a population in eastern Slovakia residing in two areas, representing high and law environmental contamination.

Principal Investigator: International Society Environmental Epidemiology 2003, NIH/NIEHS, 9/03-8/04, $20,000 annual direct. This conference grant provides support for travel scholarships to the 15th annual conference of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE).

Principal Investigator: Distribution of Autism in California: A Spatial Analysis, UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute Investigator-Initiated Research Grant, 7/04-6/05, $30,000 annual direct. The focus of this project is on developing a picture of autism across the state, and particularly in describing the geographic and socioeconomic factors that correlate with this disorder.

Principal Investigator: Methods Development for Exposure-Related Behaviors, EPA, 8/04-7/09, $1,063,427 annual direct.  The proposed project will develop data collection platforms that can be used in longitudinal assessments of change in exposure-related behaviors. These platforms, which are designed to vary in the demand on participants, will then be tested in a population-based sample of households. The data to be collected will characterize short-term, seasonal, and long-term changes in daily activities, food consumption habits, and use of household and personal care products.

NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health) National Occupational Research Agenda
(NORA) Cancer Research Methods Team
NIH Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) Scientific Panel Workshop
California Governor’s Carcinogen Identification Committee for Proposition 65
Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies, reviewer
Scientific Advisory Committee, Anniston Study of PCB’s and Human Health

Elected to the American Epidemiological Society
NAS/NRC Lifetime Appointment as National Associate of the National Academies; awarded by the National Academy of Sciences and National Research Council
NCI Distinguished Lecturer in Occupational and Environmental Cancer, National Cancer Institute, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, 2004
Past-President, International Society for Environmental Epidemiology
President-elect, Society for Epidemiologic Research