A.J. Drexel Autism Institute 2018 Director's Lecture

The Director’s Lecture is intended to provide a forum for the presentation of cutting edge science related to the Institute’s autism public health mission. An internationally recognized researcher is invited each year to present emerging findings or novel methods related to modifiable autism risk factors, early detection and intervention, or life course outcomes.

Air pollution and Autism: Problems with live birth bias and novel methods to explore it

Marc G. Weisskopf, Ph.D., Sc.D.
Professor of Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Live birth bias is a potentially common, but under acknowledged, form of selection bias that can occur in the study of conditions with prenatal origins. This talk will present the problem of live-birth bias and offer a new approach for considering this challenge in making causal inferences.

Tuesday, October 23, 2018
12:00-1:30 PM
Lunch will be served

Lebow Engineering Center, Room 240
31st and Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Register for the event
Download the flyer

Dr. Weisskopf received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of California, San Francisco, and his Sc.D. in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. He also spent two years as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention working on environmental health issues in the Wisconsin State Health Department. His neuroscience work focused on molecular and cellular aspects of neural signaling and plasticity. His epidemiological work focuses on the influence of environmental exposures on brain health across the life course. In particular, his research focuses on environmental risk factors for outcomes such as autism spectrum disorders, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, cognitive function, and psychiatric conditions. Dr. Weisskopf also explores the use of physiologically-based methods for assessing toxicant effects on the brain, and epidemiological methods issues that relate to environmental health studies.

This event will be streamed live online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP4UP_Bmg2w. For more information contact AutismInstitute@drexel.edu.