Professor of Medicine
School of Medicine
Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
University of California
San Francisco, CA 94143-0843
john.balmes@ucsf.edu
UCSF: 415-206-8953 | Fax: 415-206-8949
UCB: 510-643-4702 | Fax: 510-642-5815
http://coeh.berkeley.edu/ucsfoem/
Creative Achievements
Demonstrated that:
• People with asthma have increased airway inflammation after exposure to ozone compared to those without asthma;
• Supplemental vitamin A and beta-carotene do not protect workers exposed to asbestos from lung cancer;
• Wildland firefighters have decreased lung function after a fire season as compared to their pre-season baseline values;
• There is attenuation of the inflammatory response to ozone with exposure on several, consecutive days.
Current Research Interests
• Effects of ozone on persons with asthma (controlled human exposure study)
• Chronic effects of ozone on lung function (epidemiologic, controlled human exposure study)
• Effect of nitrogen dioxide on allergic airway inflammation in persons with asthma
• Risk of lung cancer and cardiovascular mortality
• Respiratory effects of inhaled particulate matter (controlled human exposure studies)
• Effects of air pollution on the natural history of asthma in children
Key Publications
• Christian DL, Chen LL, Scannell CM, Ferrando RE, Welch BS, Balmes JR. 1998. Ozone-induced inflammation is attenuated with multi-day exposure. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 158:532-37.
• Scannell C, Chen LL, Aris RM, Tager I, Christian D, Ferrando R, Welch B, Kelly T, Balmes JR. 1996. Greater ozone-induced inflammatory responses in subjects with asthma. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 154:24-29.
• Omenn GS, Goodman GE, Thornquist M, Balmes J, Cullen MR, Glass A, Keogh J, Meyskens FL, Valanis B, Williams JH, Barnhart S, Hammar S. 1996. Effects of the combination of beta-carotene and vitamin A on lung cancer incidence, total mortality, and cardiovascular mortality in smokers and asbestos-exposed workers. New Engl J Med 334:1150-55.
• Harber P, Schenker M, Balmes JR. 1996. Occupational and Environmental Respiratory Disease. St. Louis: Mosby-Year Book.
• Aris R, Christian D, Hearne PQ, Kerr K, Finkbeiner WE, Balmes JR. 1993. Ozone-induced airway inflammation in human subjects as determined by airway lavage and biopsy. Am Rev Respir Dis 148:1363-72.
• Liu D, Tager I, Balmes JR, Harrison RA. 1992. The effect of smoke inhalation on lung function and airway responsiveness in wildland firefighters. Am Rev Respir Dis 146:1469-73.
Teaching
• Introduction to Clinical Medicine (for second-year UCSF medical students)
• Occupational and Environmental Medicine (UCSF CME course)
Honors
• Environmental/Occupational Medicine Academic Award, NIEHS, 1991-1996
Public and University Service
• Acting Director, Center for Occupational and Environmental Health
• Director, UCSF Occupational Medicine Residency Program, 1990-present
• Chair, Scientific Assembly on Environmental and Occupational Health, American Thoracic Society, 1997-1999
• Member, Safety and Occupational Health (SOH) study section, NIOSH, 1996-2000
• Member, Research Screening Committee, California Air Resources Board, 1998-present
• Member, Air Quality Advisory Committee, Cal/EPA
Brief Biography
Dr. Balmes is a pulmonary physician by training, Professor of Medicine at UCSF, and Chief of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH). His research is principally in the area of occupational and environmental respiratory disease. He studies the acute effects of inhalation exposures to ambient air pollutants in his Human Exposure Laboratory at San Francisco General Hospital and the chronic effects of such exposures in epidemiological studies with collaborators at both UCSF and UCB. Two examples of his current work are a study of the long-term consequences of acute air pollution-related exacerbations of asthma in a cohort of children from Fresno and a study of the effects of early life exposure to biomass smoke on respiratory health later in childhood. He is also interested in genetic determinants of responses to air pollutants. For the past two years, Dr. Balmes has been leading a group of UCB and UCLA investigators funded by the CDC to assist in the development of a national program to link environmental hazards with health outcome data to improve the tracking of diseases that are potentially related to environmental exposures.
