Joseph Braun

Dr. Braun is an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health. He was formerly a school nurse in Milwaukee, WI before receiving his master’s and doctoral degrees in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He completed postdoctoral training in environmental health at the Harvard School of Public Health.

For 15 years, Dr. Braun has been committed to identifying modifiable risk factors of pediatric diseases in order to improve public health. Working with an interdisciplinary team that includes epidemiologists, biostatisticians, exposure scientists, physicians, and engineers, he studies the health effects of environmental pollutant exposures before conception and during gestation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence.

Dr. Braun’s research foci includes endocrine disrupting chemicals, toxic metals, obesity, cardiometabolic health, and pediatric neurodevelopmental disorders. His research group applies advanced biostatistical techniques to longitudinal cohort studies in order to quantify the health effects of chemical mixtures and identify periods of heightened susceptibility to chemical exposures. Moreover, Dr. Braun is using untargeted metabolomics and DNA methylation to understand biological pathways underlying the potential effect of chemical exposures.

Dr. Braun and his research team use three prospective cohort studies in North America (HOME, MIREC, and PEACE Studies) to conduct these studies. These cohorts have been following children since before conception or during pregnancy; follow-up now continues as children transition into adolescence.