About Irva Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Ph.D., Professor, UC Davis M.I.N.D. (Medical Investigations of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) Institute and Chief, Environmental and Occupational Health at UC Davis, is an internationally renowned environmental epidemiologist who has published widely on environmental exposures, including metals, pesticides, air contaminants and persistent pollutants like PCBs, their interactions with nutrition, and their effects on pregnancy, the newborn, and early child development. Early in her career, she received the Abraham Lilienfeld Best Dissertation Award from the Society for Epidemiologic Research. She conceived and directs the CHARGE (CHildhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment) Study, recently launched MARBLES (Markers of Autism Risk in Babies – Learning Early Signs), a prospective investigation that follows women who have already delivered one child with autism to search for early markers that predict autism in a younger sibling; and collaborates on the multi-site EARLI (Early Autism Risk Longitudinal Investigation). She is Director of the Northern California Collaborative Center for the National Children’s Study and Deputy Director of the UC Davis Center for Children’s Environmental Health. Dr. Hertz-Picciotto chaired several National Academy of Sciences panels on Vietnam Veterans and Agent Orange and now chairs the Institute of Medicine committee on Breast Cancer and the Environment. She served as President of two major professional epidemiology societies (Society for Epidemiologic Research, International Society for Environmental Epidemiology), and has held appointments on the Scientific Advisory Board for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Toxicology Program, the Governor’s Carcinogen Identification Committee for the State of California, and the California Air Resources Board Research Screening Committee. Twice she served as Scientific Advisor to the NIH Interagency Coordinating Committee on Autism Research, and in 2006, chaired an Expert Panel Workshop on the CDC’s Vaccine Safety Database for Studies of Autism and Thimerosal. An author of over 200 papers, Dr. Hertz-Picciotto also serves on editorial boards for the American Journal of Epidemiology, Environmental Health Perspectives, and Autism Research. She has taught courses on four continents, received the Bernard Greenberg Award for Excellence in Teaching from UNC Chapel Hill School of Public Health, advised more than 20 doctoral students in their dissertation work, four of whom won prizes from professional scientific societies, and mentored several dozen other graduate students. Selected publications by Irva Hertz-Picciotto 1. Hertz-Picciotto I, Pastore L, Beaumont J (1996) Timing and patterns of exposures during pregnancy and their implications for study methods. Amer J Epidemiol 143:597-607. 2. Hertz-Picciotto I (1996) Towards a coordinated system for surveillance of environmental health hazards (Invited Commentary). Amer J Pub Health 86:638-641. 3. Bell EM, Hertz-Picciotto I, Beaumont JJ (2001). A case control study of pesticides and fetal death due to congenital anomalies. Epidemiology 12:148-156. 4. Bell EM, Hertz-Picciotto I, Beaumont JJ (2001). Pesticides and fetal death due to congenital anomalies: implications of an erratum. Epidemiology 12:595-6. 5. Hertz-Picciotto I (2005). How scientists view causality and assess evidence: A study of the Institute of Medicine’s evaluation of health effects in Vietnam Veterans and Agent Orange. J Law & Policy 13:553-591 6. Hertz-Picciotto I, Croen L, Hansen R, Jones C, Pessah IN (2006). The CHARGE Study: An epidemiologic investigation of genetic and environmental factors contributing to autism. Environ Health Persp 114(7):1119-1125. http://www.ehponline.org/members/2006/8483/8483.pdf 7. Park J-S, Bergman Å, Linderholm L, Athanasiadou M, Kočan A, Petrik J, Drobna B, Trnovec T, Charles MJ, Hertz-Picciotto I (2008 Feb). Placental transfer of polychlorinated biphenyls, their hydroxylated metabolites, and pentachlorophenol in pregnant women from eastern Slovakia. Chemosphere 70(9):1676-84. Epub 2007 Aug 30. PMID: 17764717 8. Hertz-Picciotto I, Park H-Y, Dostal M, Kočan A, Trnovec T, Šrám R (2008 Feb). Prenatal exposures to persistent and non-persistent organic compounds and effects on immune system development. Basic Clin Pharmacol Toxicol 102(2):146-54. PMID: 18226068 9. Braunschweig D, Ashwood P, Krakowiak P, Hertz-Picciotto I, Hansen R, Croen LA, Pessah IN, Van de Water JA (2008 Mar). Autism: maternally derived antibodies specific for fetal brain proteins. Neurotoxicology 29(2):226-231. PMID: 18078998 10. Palkovičova L, Ursinyova M, Manasova V, Yu Z, Hertz-Picciotto I (2008 May). Maternal amalgam dental fillings as the source of mercury exposure in developing fetus and newborn. J Expos Science & Env Epidemiol 18(3):326-31. PMID: 17851449 http://www.nature.com/jes/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/7500606a.html;jsessi... 11. Hertz-Picciotto I, Jusko TA, Charles MJ, Baker RJ, Keller JA, Greenfield TA, Willman E, Teplin S (2008 July). A cohort study of in utero polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposures in relation to secondary sex ratio. Environ Health 2008,7:37. Published: http://www.ehjournal.net/content/pdf/1476-069X-7-37.pdf 12. Ashwood P, Endstrom A, Krakowiak P, Hertz-Picciotto I, Hansen R, Croen LA, Ozonoff S, Pessah I, Van de Water J (2008 Nov). Decreased transforming growth factor beta1 in autism: A potential link between immune dysregulation and impairment in clinical behavioral outcomes. J Neuroimmunol 204(1-2):149-53; PMID: 18762342 13. Nagarajan RP, Patzel KA, Martin M, Yasui DH, Swanberg SE, Hertz-Picciotto I, Hansen RL, Van de Water J, Pessah IN, Jiang R, Robinson WP, Lasalle JM (2008 June). MECP2 promoter methylation and X-chromosome inactivation in autism. Autism Research 1(3):169-178. PMID 19132145 14. Heuer L, Ashwood P, Schauer J, Goines P, Krakowiak P, Hertz-Picciotto I, Hansen R, Croen LA, Pessah IN, Van de Water J (2008 Oct). Reduced levels of immunoglobulin in children with autism correlates with behavioral symptoms. Autism Res 1(5):275-83. PMID 19343198 15. Ozonoff S, Heung K, Byrd R, Hansen R, Hertz-Picciotto I (2008 Dec). The onset of autism: Patterns of symptom emergence in the first years of life. Autism Res 1:320-328. PMID 19360687 16. Enstrom AM, Lit L, Onore CE, Gregg J, Hansen R, Pessah IN, Hertz-Picciotto I, Van de Water JA, Sharp FR, Ashwood P (2009 Jan). Altered gene expression and function of peripheral blood natural killer cells in children with autism. Brain, Behav Immun 23(1):124-33. PMID 18762240 17. Hertz-Picciotto I, Delwiche L (2009 Jan). The Continuing Rise in Autism and the Role of Age at Diagnosis. Epidemiology 20(1):84-90. PMID 19234401 18. Enstrom A, Krakowiak P, Onore C, Pessah IN, Hertz-Picciotto I, Hansen RL, Van de Water JA, Ashwood P (2009 Mar). Increased IgG4 levels in children with autism disorder. Brain Behav Immun. 23(3):389-95. (epub 2008 Dec 25) PMID: 19136055 19. Wiest MM, German JB, Harvey DJ, Watkins SM, Hertz-Picciotto I (2009 Apr). Plasma fatty acid profiles in autism: A case-control study. Prostaglandins, Leukot, Essent Fatty Acids. 80(4):221-7. PMID 19307110. doi:10.1016/j.plefa.2009.01.007 20. Hertz-Picciotto I, Green PG, Delwiche L, Hansen R, Walker C, Pessah IN (2010 Jan). Blood mercury concentrations in CHARGE Study children with and without autism. Environ Health Persp: 118(1):161-6 (online 19 Oct 2009) doi: 10.1289/ehp.0900736 http://www.ehponline.org/members/2009/0900736/0900736.pdf 21. Van Meter KC, Christiansen LE, Delwiche, LD, Azari R, Carpenter TE, Hertz-Picciotto I (2010 Jan). Geographic Distribution of Autism in California: A Retrospective Birth Cohort Analysis. Autism Res 2010 Jan 4;3(1):19-29. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 20049980 22. Shelton J, Tancredi D, Hertz-Picciotto I (2010 Feb)). Independent and dependent contributions of advanced maternal and paternal ages for autism risk. Autism Res 3(1):30-39. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 20143326 23. Rose M, Bennett DH, Bergman A, Fangstrom B, Pessah IN, Hertz-Picciotto I. PBDEs in 2-5 year-old children from California and associations with diet and indoor environment. Env Sci Technol (epub Mar 2010) PMID: 20196589

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