Paul Blanc MD MSPH is Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (Parnassus Heights Campus), and holds the Endowed Chair in Occupational Medicine at UCSF. He is trained in occupational medicine and internal medicine and also holds a certificate of added qualifications in medical toxicology. He received his MD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and has a Masters of Science in Public Health in industrial hygiene from the Harvard School of Public Health. He is a former Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar and a Fulbright Senior Research Fellow. He is author of the 2009 book How Everyday Products Make People Sick (UC Press; http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520261273).
Research Interests
His areas of research concentration include the epidemiology of rhinitis, asthma, COPD, and hypersensitivity pneumonitis in relation to workplace and environmental factors and occupational and environmental toxicology, especially in terms of pulmonary responses.
Selected Publications
Blanc PD, Toren K. How much adult asthma can be attributed to occupational factors? Am J Med 1999; 107:580-587. (abstract)
Trupin L, Earnest G, San Pedro M, Balmes JR, Eisner MD, Yelin E, Katz PP, Blanc PD. The occupational burden of chronic obstruction pulmonary disease. Eur Respir J 2003; 22:462-69. (abstract)
Eisner MD, Trupin L, Katz PP, Yelin EH, Earnest G, Balmes J, Blanc PD. Development and validation of a survey-based COPD severity score. Chest 2005; 127:1890-7.
Katz PP, Eisner MD, Yelin EH, Trupin L, Earnest G, Balmes J, Blanc PD. Functioning and psychological status among individuals with COPD. Quality Life Res 2005; 14:1835-43.
Chen H, Katz PP, Shiboski S, Blanc PD. Evaluating change in health-related quality of life in adult rhinitis: responsiveness of the Rhinosinusitis Disability Index. Health Quality Life Outcomes 2005, 3:68 (doi:10.1186/1477-7525-3-68).
Blanc PD, Yen IH, Chen H, Katz PP, Earnest G, Balmes JR, Trupin L, Friedling N, Yelin EH, Eisner MD. Area-level socioeconomic status and health status among adults with asthma and rhinitis. Eur Respir J 2006; 27:85-94.
Chen H, Eisner MD, Katz PP, Yelin EH, Blanc PD. Measuring disease-specific quality of life in obstructive airway disease: validation of a modified version of the airways questionnaire 20 (AQ20). Chest 2006; 129:1644-52.
Eisner MD, Balmes JR, Yelin EH, Katz PP, Hammond SK, Benowitz N, Blanc PD. Directly measured secondhand smoke exposure and COPD health outcomes. BMC Pulmonary Med 2006 6:12 doi:10.1186/1471-2466-6-12.
Archea C, Yen IH, Chen H, Eisner MD, Katz PP, Masharani U, Yelin EH, Earnest G, Blanc PD. Negative life events and quality of life in adult asthma. Thorax. 2007: 62:139-146
Blanc PD, Toren K. Occupation in COPD and chronic bronchitis: an update. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 2007; 11: 251-7.
Eisner MD, Iribarren C, Yelin EH, Sidney S, Katz PP, Ackerson L, Lathon P, Tolstykh I, Omachi T, Byl N, Blanc PD. Pulmonary Function and the risk of functional limitation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Am J Epidemiol. 2008; 167:1090-1101. PMCID: 2610529
Katz P, Morris A, Gregorich S, Yazdany J, Eisner M, Yelin E, Blanc P. Valued life activity disability played a significant role in self-rated health among adults with chronic health conditions. J Clin Epidemiol 2009 62:158-166. PMCID: 2633356
Blanc PD, Ana Maria B. Menezes A-M B, Plana E, Mannino DM, Hallal PC, Toren K, Eisner MD, Zock J-P. Occupational exposures and COPD: An ecological analysis of international data. Eur Respir J 2009; 33:298-304.
Torén K, Blanc PD. Asthma caused by occupational exposures is common - A systematic analysis of estimates of the population-attributable fraction. BMC Pulmonary Med 2009 Jan 29; 9:7.
Balmes JR, Earnest G, Katz PP, Yelin EH, Eisner MD, Chen H, Trupin L, Lurman F, Blanc PD Exposure to traffic: lung function and health status in adults with asthma. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2009; 123:626-31. PMCID: 2785911
Torén K, Zock J-P, Kogevinas M, Plana E, Sunyer J, Radon K, Jarvis D, Kromhout H, d’Errico A, Payo F, Antó JM, Blanc, PD. An international prospective general population-based study of respiratory work-disability. Thorax 2009; 64:339-44.
Katz P, Julian L, Omachi TA, Gregorich S, Eisner MD, Yelin EH, Blanc PD. The impact of disability on depression among individuals with COPD. Chest 2010; 137:838-45. PMCID: 2851560
Eisner MD, Omachi TA, Katz PP, Yelin EH, Iribarren C, Blanc PD. Measurement of COPD severity using a survey-based score: validation in a clinically and physiologically characterized cohort. Chest 2010; 137:846-51. PMCID: 2851559