Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Faculty Member

Jeffrey R. Brook Ph.D., M.Sc.

Research Interests

• environmental health
• exposure assessment
• urban air quality
• health effects studies

Education & Training History

Ph.D. 1991 Air Pollution Meteorology The University of Michigan

M.S. 1988 Atmospheric Science The University of Michigan

Diploma 1983 Meteorology McGill University

B.S. 1982 Physical Sciences Michigan State University

Other Affiliations

Senior Research Scientist, Environment and Climate Change Canada (Retired Sept. 2018)

Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto

Primary Teaching Responsibilities

CHL7002H-S1

Professional Summary & Appointments

Volunteer, Environment and Climate Change Canada

Scientific Director, Canadian Urban Environmental Health Research Consortium (CANUE)

Research Committee, Health Effects Institute, Boston

Southern Ontario Centre for Atmospheric Aerosol Research (SOCAAR), University of Toronto

Chair of multi-centre CHILD Environment Working Group

Co-Leader, Gene x Environment Platform, AllerGen Canadian Networks of Centres of Excellence, McMaster U., Hamilton, Ontario. http://www.allergen-nce.ca

Study executive committee, Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) birth cohort study. AllerGen: Genes and Environment. Canadian Networks of Centres of Excellence, McMaster U., Hamilton, Ontario.

Honours & Awards

Distinguished Scientist of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dec. 2016.

Honourable Mention Award from the Atmospheric Science Librarians International Association for publication of “Air Quality Management:  Canadian Perspectives on a Global Issue”, Jan. 2015.

Citation of Excellence in the Teamwork, Partnering and Collaboration category, Environment Canada, May 2012

Citation of Excellence, Environment Canada, May 8, 2003.

Current Research Projects

The Canadian Urban Environmental Health Research Consortium (CANUE), P.I. J. R. Brook, Funding from: Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR)

Fire Ash Characterization and Evaluation of Toxicity (FACET): Long-Term Pulmonary Effects of Ash Exposure, Co-I J.R. Brook, Funding from: CIHR

The Canadian Alliance for Health Hearts and Minds, P.I. of Fort McKay First Nation Indigenous Cohort: J.R. Brook, Funding from: CIHR

Better Exposure Avoidance Measures (BEAM). P.I. J. R. Brook, Funding from: AllerGen Network of Centres of Excellence, McMaster University

Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development Study (CHILD), P.I. PJ Subbarao, Funding from: AllerGen, Genome Canada, CIHR, others

Air Pollution and Cardio-Metabolic Disease (AIRCMD). Consultant: J.R. Brook, Funding from: the U.S. National Institutes of Health

Representative Publications

1. Tun M.H., Tun H.M., Konya T., Guttman D.S., Becker A.B., Mandhane P.J., Turvey S.E., Subbarao P., Sears M.R., Brook J.R., Lou W, Takaro T.K., Scott J.A., Kozyrskyj A.L., the CHILD Study Investigators (2018) Postnatal exposure to household cleaning products alters infant gut microbiota at age 3-4 months and future risk for overweight. Canadian Medical Association Journal (accepted)
2. Bai L., Burnett R.T., Kwong J.C., Hystad P., van Donkelaar A., Brook J.R., Tu K., Copes R., Goldberg M.S., Martin R.V., Murray B.J., Kopp A. (2018) Long-term exposure to air pollution and the incidence of multiple sclerosis: a population-based cohort study. Environmental Research (accepted)
3. Lavigne E., Belair M.A., Rodriguez Duque D., Do M.T., Stieb D.M., Hystad P, van Donkelaar A., Martin R.V., Crouse D.L., Crighton E., Chen, H., Burnett R.T., Weichenthal S., Villeneuve P.J. , To T., Brook J.R., Johnson M., Cakmak S., Yasseen III A.S.,Walker M. (2018) Effect modification of perinatal exposure to air pollution and childhood asthma incidence. European Respiratory Journal Jan 2018, 1701884; DOI:1183/13993003.01884-2017.
4. Brook J.R., Setton E.M., Seed E., Shooshtari M., Doiron D. (2018) The Canadian Urban Environmental Health Research Consortium – a protocol for building a national environmental exposure data platform for integrated analyses of urban form and health. BMC Public Health 18 (1), 114.
5. Chen H., Kwong J.C., Copes R. Hystad P., van Donkelaar A., Tu K, Brook J.R., Goldberg M.S., Martin R.V., Murray B.J., Wilton A.S., Koop A., Burnett R.T., (2017) Exposure to ambient air pollution and the incidence of dementia: A population-based cohort study. Environ Int, 108, 271-277.
6. Lavigne E., Bélair M.-A., Do M.T., Stieb D.M., Hystad P., van Donkelaar A., Martin R.V., Crouse D.L., Crighton E., Chen H., Brook J.R., Burnett R.T., Weichenthal S., Villeneuve P.J., To T., Cakmak S., Johnson M., Yasseen A.S., Johnson K .C., Ofner M., Xie L., Walker M. (2017) Maternal exposure to ambient air pollution and risk of early childhood cancers: A population-based study in Ontario, Canada. Environment International 100, 139-47.
7. North M.L., Brook J.R., Lee E.Y., Omana V., Daniel N.M., Steacy L.M., Evans G.J., Diamond M.L., Ellis A.K. (2017) The Kingston Allergy Birth Cohort: Exploring parentally reported respiratory outcomes through the lens of the exposome. Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, 118, 465-473.
8. Hatzopoulou M., Valois M.-F., Levy I., Mihele C., Lu G., Bagg S., Minet L., Brook J.R. (2017) Robustness of Land-Use Regression Models Developed from Mobile Air Pollutant Measurements. Environmental Science & Technology, 51, 3938–3947.
9. Münzel T., Sørensen M., Gori T., Schmidt F.P., Rao X., Brook J.R., Chen L.C., Brook R.D., Rajagopalan S. (2017) Environmental stressors and cardio-metabolic disease: part I–epidemiologic evidence supporting a role for noise and air pollution and effects of mitigation strategies. Eur Heart J 38, 550-556.
10. Liu L, Urch B., Szyszkowicz M., Speck M., Leingartner K., Shutt R., Pelletier G., Gold D.R., Scott J.A., Brook J.R., Thorne P.S., Silverman F.S. (2017) Influence of exposure to coarse, fine and ultrafine urban particulate matter and their biological constituents on neural biomarkers in a randomized controlled crossover study. Environment International. 101:89-95
11. Pakpour S., Scott JA, Turvey SE, Brook JR, Takaro TK, Sears MR, Klironomos J (2016) Presence of Archaea in the indoor environment and their relationships with housing characteristics. Microb Ecol 75:305-12.
12. Liggio J, Li S-M, Hayden K, Taha YM, Stroud C, Darlington A, Drollette BD, Gordon M, Lee P, Liu P, Leithead A, Moussa SG, Wang D, O’Brien J, Mittermeier RL, Brook JR, Lu G, Staebler R, Han Y, Tokarek TT, Osthoff HD, Makar PA, Zhang J, Plata D, Gentner DR. (2016). Oil Sands Operations Are a Major Source of Secondary Organic Aerosols. Nature, online May 25, 2016, doi:10/1038/nature17646
13. Chen H, Burnett RT, Copes R, Kwong JC, Villeneuve PJ, Goldberg MS, Brook RD, van Donkelaar A, Jerrett M, Martin RV, Brook JR, Kopp A, Tu JV (2016) Spatial Analysis of Ambient Fine Particulate Matter and Survival after Myocardial Infarction. Published online May 6, 2016, Environmental Health Perspectives. http://dx.doe.org/10/1289/EHP185
14. Chen H, Kwong JC, Copes R, Villeneuve PJ, Goldberg MS, Weichenthal S., van Donkelaar A, Jerrett M, Martin RV, Brook JR, Kopp A, Burnett RT (2016) Cohort Profile: The ONtario Population Health and Environment Cohort (ONPHEC). International Journal of Epidemiology on line April 20, 2016.
15. Zhang J., Dabek-Zlotorzynska E., Liggio J., Stroud C.A., Charland J.P., Brook J.R., (2016) Use of the integrated organic gas and particle sampler to improve the characterization of carbonaceous aerosol in the near-road environment. Atmospheric Environment 126, 192-199.
16. Brook RD, Sun Z, Brook JR, Zhao X, Ruan Y, Yan J, Mukherjee, M, Rao X, Duan F, Sun L, Liang R, Lian H, Zhang S, Fang Q, Gu D, Sun Q, Fan Z, Rajagopalan S. (2016) Extreme Air Pollution Conditions Epidemic to the Global Megacity of Beijing China Adversely Impact Blood Pressure and Insulin Sensitivity. The Air Pollution and Cardiometabolic Disease (AIRCMD-China) Study. Hypertension 67 (1), 77-85.
17. Crouse D.L., Philip S., van Donkelaar A., Martin R.V., Jessiman B., Peters P. A., Weichenthal S., Brook J. R., Hubbell B., Burnett R. T. (2015) A New Method to Jointly Estimate the Mortality Risk of Long-Term Exposure to Fine Particulate Matter and its Components. Scientific Reports 6, 18916-18916.
18. Crouse D.L., Peters P.A., Hystad P., Brook J.R., van Donkelaar A., Martin R.V., Villeneuve P.J., Jerrett M., Goldberg M.S., Pope III C.A., Brauer M., Brook R.D., Robichaud A., Menard R., Burnett R.T. (2015) Ambient PM2.5, O3, and NO2 Exposures and Associations with Mortality over 16 Years of Follow-Up in the Canadian Census Health and Environment Cohort (CanCHEC). Environmental Health Perspectives 123 (11), 1180-1186.
19. Thomson E.M., Breznan D., Karthikeyan S., MacKinnon-Roy C., Charland J.P.,Dabek-Zlotorzynska E., Celo V., Kumarathasan P., Brook J.R., Vincent R. (2015) Cytotoxic and inflammatory potential of size-fractionated particulate matter collected repeatedly within a small urban area Particle and Fibre Toxicology 12:24
20. Moraes T.J., Lefebvre D.L., Chooniedass R., Becker A.B., Brook J.R., Denburg J., HayGlass K.T., Kollmann T.R., Macri J., Mandhane P.J, Scott J.A., Subbarao P, Takaro T.K., Turvey S.E., Duncan J.D., Sears M.R., Befus A.D. and the CHILD Study Investigators. (2015) The Canadian healthy infant longitudinal development birth cohort study: biological samples and biobanking. Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology 29 (1), 84-92.
21. Subbarao P, Anand SS, Becker AB, Befus AD, Brauer M, Brook JR, HayGlass KT, Kobor M, Kollmann TR, Kozyrskyj AL, Lou WYW, Mandhane PJ, Miller GE, Moraes TJ, Pare P, Sandford AJ Scott JA, Takaro TK, Turvey SE, Duncan JD, Lefebvre DL, Sears MR (2014) The Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Study: examining developmental origins of asthma and allergy. Thorax 207246 1.
22. Takaro T.K., Scott J.A., Allen R.W., Anand S.S., Becker A.B., Befus A.D., Brauer M., Duncan J., Lefebvre D.L., Lou W., Mandhane P.J., McLean K.,  Miller G., Sbihi H., Shu H., Subbarao P., Turvey S.E., Wheeler A.J., Zeng L., Sears M.R., Brook J.R. (2014) The Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) birth cohort study: assessment of environmental exposures. J. Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology 25, 580-592.
23. Sbihi H., Allen R.W., Becker A., Brook J., Mandhane P., Scott J.A., Sears M.R., Subbarao P., Takaro T.K., Turvey S.E., Brauer M. (2015) Perinatal exposure to traffic-related air pollution and development of atopy in a Canadian birth cohort study. Environ Health Perspect, 123 (9), 903.
24. Levy, I., Mihele, C., Lu, G., Narayan, J., Hilker, N., and Brook, J. R. (2014) Elucidating multipollutant exposure across a complex metropolitan area by systematic deployment of a mobile laboratory, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 7173-7193.
25. Levy I., Mihele C., Lu G., Narayan J., Brook J.R. (2014) Evaluating multipollutant exposure and urban air quality: Pollutant interrelationships, neighborhood variability, and nitrogen dioxide as a proxy pollutant. Environ Health Perspect 122, 65-72.
26. Chen H, Burnett RT, Kwong JC, Villeneuve PJ, Goldberg MS, Brook RD, van Donkelaar A, Jerrett M, Martin RV, Kopp A., Brook J.R., Copes R. (2014) Spatial Association Between Ambient Fine Particulate Matter And Incident Hypertension, Circulation, 129(5): 562-569.