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Dr. Balmes received his M.D. degree from Mount Sinai School of
Medicine in 1976. After internal medicine training at Mount Sinai
and pulmonary subspecialty, occupational medicine, and research
training at Yale, he joined the faculty of USC in 1982. He joined
the faculty at UCSF in 1986 and is currently Professor and Division
Chief of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at San Francisco
General Hospital (SFGH). His major academic activities include his
research laboratory, several collaborative epidemiological research
projects, various advisory and editorial committees, and direction
of the clinical occupational/environmental medicine division at SFGH.
Dr. Balmes' laboratory, the Human Exposure
Laboratory (HEL), has been studying the respiratory health effects of
various air pollutants for the past 18 years. Recently, the HEL has
been focusing on the airway inflammatory effects of ozone and fine
particles. The HEL was the first group to demonstrate a) histological
evidence of ozone-induced airway injury and inflammation in human
subjects, b) that asthmatic subjects have greater inflammatory
responses to ozone than normal subjects, c) that ozone-induced
inflammatory responses in normal subjects attenuate with short-term
exposures on consecutive days in the lung, and d) that asthmatic
subjects recruit macrophages to the airways with consecutive day
exposures. The lab is currently studying the impact of a genetic
polymorphism of the antioxidant enzyme, Glutathione-S-transferase M1,
on the susceptibility of asthmatic subjects to ozone. We are also
studying patterns of gene expression in our human model of ozone-induced
acute airway inflammation.
Dr. Balmes is also collaborating with Dr. Ira
Tager of UC, Berkeley on several epidemiological projects. The first
is designed to compare the lung function of lifetime residents of the
Los Angeles Basin to that of lifetime residents of the San Francisco
Bay area in order to determine the effects of chronic exposure to ozone
on lung structure/function. The second project is called the "Fresno
Asthmatic Children's Environment Study" (FACES). The overall specific
aim of FACES is to determine the relationship between air pollution-induced
short-term exacerbations of childhood asthma and the longer-term course
of asthma. A cohort of 250 asthmatic children (ages 6-11) is being
followed longitudinally with serial measurements of lung function and
assessment of asthma severity (symptoms, medication use) as well as
serial measurement of both indoor and outdoor exposures. A third project
involves longitudinal study of the effects of biomass smoke exposure
on chronic respiratory health of ~500 young children in rural Guatemala.
A fourth project involves school-based asthma surveillance in children
using a short survey.
Balmes JR, Chen LL, Scannell C, Tager I,
Christian D, Hearne PQ, Kelly T, Aris R. Ozone-induced decrements
in FEV1 and FVC do not correlate with airway
inflammation in human subjects. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 1996;
153:904-909. (abstract)
Scannell C, Chen LL, Aris RM, Tager I,
Christian D, Ferrando R, Welch B, Kelly T, Balmes JR. Greater
ozone-induced inflammatory responses in subjects with asthma.
Am J Respir Crit Care Med 1996; 154:24-29. (abstract)
Omenn GS, Goodman GE, Thornquist MD, Balmes
J, Cullen MR, Glass A, Keogh J, Meyskens FL, Valanis B, Williams
JH, Barnhart S, Hammar S. Effects of the combination of beta-carotene
and vitamin A on lung cancer incidence, total mortality, and cardiovascular
mortality in smokers and asbestos-exposed workers. New Engl J
Med 1996; 334:1150-55.(abstract)/(full
text)
Chuwers P, Barnhart S, Blanc P, Brodkin
C, Cullen M, Kelly T, Keogh J, Omenn G, Williams J, Balmes JR.
The protective effect of b -carotene
and retinol on ventilatory function in an asbestos-exposed cohort.
Am J Respir Critical Care Med 1997; 155:1066-1071.(abstract)
Christian DL, Chen LL,
Scannell CH, Ferrando RE, Welch BS, Balmes JR. Ozone-induced inflammation
is attenuated with multi-day exposure. Am J Respir Crit Care Med
1998; 158:532-537.(abstract)/
(full
text)
Forastiere F, Balmes J, Scarinci M, Tager
IB. Occupation, asthma and chronic respiratory symptoms in a community
sample of older women. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 1998; 157:1864-1870.(abstract)/
(full
text)
Renisch F, Harrison RJ,
Cussler S, Athanasoulis M, Balmes J, Blanc P, Cone J. Physician
reports of work-related asthma, 1993-1996. Am J Ind Med 2001;39:72-83.(abstract)
Zitter JN, Mazonson PD, Miller DP,
Hulley SB, Balmes JR. Aircraft cabin air recirculation and
symptoms of the common cold: a natural experiment. JAMA
2002;288:483-486. (abstract)/(full
text)
Trupin L, Earnest G, San Pedro M,
Balmes JR, Eisner MD, Yelin E, Katz PP, Blanc P. The
occupational burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Eur Respir J 2003; 22: 462-469. (abstract)/(full
text)
Chen LL, Tager IB, Peden DB,
Christian DL, Ferrando RE, Welch BS, Balmes JR. Effect of
ozone exposure on airway responses to inhaled allergen in
asthmatic subjects. Chest 2004;125:2328-2335. (abstract)/(full
text)
Cullen MR, Barnett MJ, Balmes JR, et
al. Predictors of lung cancer among asbestos-exposed men in
the β-Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial. Am J Epidemiol
2005;161:260-270. (abstract)/(full
text)
Arjomandi M, Witten A, Abbritti E,
Reintjes K, Zhai W, Solomon C, Balmes J. Repeated exposure
to ozone increases alveolar macrophage recruitment into
asthmatic airways. Am J Respir Crit Care Med
2005;172:427-432. (abstract)/(full
text)
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