Dr. Arjomandi is an Assistant Professor of Medicine In-residence in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care at UCSF with a joint appointment at San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He is the Associate Director of the Human Exposure Laboratory at the UCSF Lung Biology Center, and an investigator at the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. Dr. Arjomandi received his bachelor degree in molecular biology from University of California San Diego in 1991, and his MD degree from Stanford University School of Medicine in 1996. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at UCLA Medical Center (1999) and his fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at UCSF (2003). Dr. Arjomandi is currently funded through a NIH/NHLBI Mentored Patient-oriented Career Development Award (K23), and the UCSF Flight Attendants Medical Research Institute (FAMRI) Center of Excellence Research Award. He is also the Co-Principal Investigator on two state grants through the California Air Resources Board.
Research Summary
The lung is constantly exposed to various environmental pollutants, allergens, and toxins, which interact with airways and alveoli and result in inflammation, injury, and disease. Exposure-related pulmonary diseases are increasingly recognized as a growing global problem; however, our understanding of their clinical spectrum and underlying pathophysiology has remained limited. Although exposures to various environmental agents cause a range of airway and lung diseases, evidence exists to suggest that many of these agents share common pathways of inflammation and injury. For example, long-term exposure to tobacco smoke, wood smoke, ozone, or allergen, alone or in combination, can cause chronic obstruction and remodeling of airways. The nature and extent of these pathologic processes may be dependent on the type and amount of exposure, and on individual factors such as genetics, age, co-morbid conditions, and diet.
My primary research interest is studying the physiologic and inflammatory mechanisms of airway remodeling in various exposure-response models such as ozone-induced oxidative injury, allergic airway inflammation, and wood or tobacco smoke-induced airway injury. I use epidemiologic studies of cohorts and controlled human exposure studies, and employ comparative biology in a variety of in vivo and in vitro experiments to develop a multi-level approach to understanding the mechanisms of airway remodeling that underlie disease states such as asthma or COPD.
Publications in Peer-Reviewed Journals
M Arjomandi, I Schmidlin, P Girling, R Ferrando, P Girling, K Boylen, J Balmes. Sputum Induction and Bronchoscopy for Assessment of Ozone-induced Airway Inflammation in Asthma. Chest. 2005 Jul;128(1):416-23.
M Arjomandi, A Witten, E Abbritti, C Solomon, K Reintjes, I Schmidlin, W Zhai, J Balmes. Repeated Exposure to Ozone Increases Alveolar Macrophage Recruitment into Asthmatic Airways. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2005 Aug 15;172(4):427-32. Epub 2005 Jun 3.
A Witten, C Solomon, E Abbritti, M Kleinman, M Arjomandi, W Zhai, JR Balmes. Effects of Nitrogen Dioxide on Allergic Airway Responses in Subjects with Asthma. J Occup Environ Med. 2005 December; 47(12):1250-9.
C Chen, M Arjomandi, H Qin, JR Balmes, IB Tager, N Holland. Cytogenetic Damage in Buccal Epithelia and Peripheral Lymphocytes of Young Healthy Individuals Exposed to Ozone. Mutagenesis. 2006 Mar;21(2):131-7. Epub 2006 Mar 2.
M Arjomandi (co-first author), C Chen, IB Tager, N Holland, JR Balmes. Effects of Antioxidant Enzyme Polymorphisms on Ozone-induced Lung Function Changes. Eur Respir J. 2007 Oct;30(4):677-83. Epub 2007 Jul 25.
C Chen, M Arjomandi, IB Tager, N Holland, JR Balmes. Effects of Chronic and Acute Ozone Exposure on Lipid Peroxidation and Antioxidant Capacity in Healthy Young Adults. Environ Health Perspect. 2007 Dec;115(12):1732-7.
M Arjomandi, IB Tager, M Bastaki, C Chen, N Holland, JR Balmes. Is There an Association between Lifetime Cumulative Exposure and Acute Pulmonary Responses to Ozone? J Occup Environ Med. 2008 Mar;50(3):341-9.
M Arjomandi, T Haight, R Redberg, WM Gold. Pulmonary Function Abnormalities in Never Smoking Flight Attendants Exposed to Secondhand Tobacco Smoke in the Aircraft Cabin. J Occup Environ Med. 2009 May 14 [Epub ahead of print].
