Professor
Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good Director, Global Observatory on Planetary Health
Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society
Higgins Hall 648A
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Telephone: 617-552-8209
Email: phil.landrigan@bc.edu
ORCID
Global Public Health; Children's Environmental Health; Occupational Health
I am a pediatrician and public health physician.听 My research uses the tools of clinical medicine and epidemiology to increase understanding of how hazardous exposures in the environment harm human health, especially the health of infants and children. I am deeply committed to translating findings from my research into public policy to protect health, prevent disease and save lives.听
For many years, my research focused on neurotoxic chemicals such as lead and pesticides, and I undertook investigations quantifying the effects of these chemicals on children鈥檚 developing brains. 听My early studies of childhood lead poisoning conducted in collaboration with my colleague, the late Herbert L. Needleman, MD, demonstrated that lead is toxic to children even at very low levels, causing IQ loss and lifelong behavioral problems even in the absence of clinically obvious symptoms of lead poisoning.听 Based on these findings, and despite the vigorous opposition of the lead industry, my colleagues and I successfully persuaded the US Environmental Protection Agency to remove lead from gasoline and paint. These actions reduced childhood lead poisoning in the USA by 95% and resulted in a nearly 5-point gain in the mean IQ of all American children born since 1980.
The study of Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children that听I led at US National Academy of Sciences in the early 1990s found that children are much more sensitive than adults to pesticides and other toxic chemicals in the environment. Based on those findings, my colleagues and I were able to persuade the US Congress to revamp the federal pesticide law in the United States - the Food Quality Protection Act - to specifically safeguard children鈥檚 health. That work led also to creation of EPA鈥檚 Office of Children鈥檚 Health Protection and the national network of Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units (PEHSUs).
In New York City, where I was a member of the faculty of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai from 1985 to 2018, I served as Chair of Mount Sinai鈥檚 Department of Preventive Medicine, Professor of Pediatrics, and Dean for Global Health. I oversaw Mount Sinai鈥檚 medical and epidemiologic follow-up of more than 20,000 9/11 rescue workers.听 Our examinations of these brave men and women documented that more than 40% have persistent abnormalities of pulmonary function and that approximately 15% have mental health problems related to their service.听听
Most recently, my research has examined global environmental threats to health. From 2015-2018, I co-chaired The Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health, which found that pollution is responsible for an estimated 9 million deaths per year, is closely linked to climate change, and is an existential threat to planetary health. Since 2019, I have chaired the Monaco Commission on Human Health and Ocean Pollution examining the links between ocean pollution and human health. From 2021-2023, I chaired the Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health, which examined plastics鈥� impacts on human health across the plastic life cycle and formulated recommendations to guide drafting of the UN Global Plastics Treaty, currently in development.听I am currently co-leading, with Prof Joacim Rockl枚v of Heidelberg University, The Lancet Countdown on Health and Plastics, an independent, health-focused global monitoring platform that over the next decade will track and quantify plastics鈥� harms to human and planetary health across all stages of the plastic life cycle.
I am a member of the US National Academy of Medicine.听From 2018-2026, I had the privilege to serve as Founding Director of the Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good at Boston College.
*Members of the Consortium for Children鈥檚 Environmental Health include: David A. Wirth, J.D., Maureen Cropper, Ph.D., Daniel A. Axelrad, M.P.P., Caroline Bald, B.S., Aruni Bhatnagar, Ph.D., Linda S. Birnbaum, Ph.D., Thomas A. Burke, Ph.D., M.P.H., Thomas C. Chiles, Ph.D., Ken Geiser, Ph.D., Carly Griffin, B.S., Pushpam Kumar, Ph.D., Daniele Mandrioli, M.D., Yongjoon Park, Ph.D., Herv茅 Raps, M.D., Apolline Roger, Ph.D., Ted R. Smith, Ph.D., J. Christopher States, Ph.D., Kurt Straif, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., Joel A. Tickner, Sc.D., Wendy Wagner, J.D., Zhanyun Wang, D.Sc., Ella M. Whitman, B.A., Tracey J. Woodruff, Ph.D., M.P.H., Aroub Yousuf, B.A., and Philip J. Landrigan, M.D.
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