Esteban González Burchard, MD
Profile
The overall goal of my research group is to identify and characterize genetic, environmental and social factors that predispose to asthma and modify drug response (pharmacogenetics). In addition, we are interested in how racially-specific genetic diffs. modify disease and response to treatment. My major scientific interests center on identifying genetic risk factors for common diseases and traits (e.g. asthma and drug response) in racial/ethnically mixed populations. I am fascinated with how racial/ethnic background influences health and risk of disease. For example, in the U.S., asthma prevalence and severity are highest in Puerto Ricans and lowest in Mexican Americans (all other races/ethnicities fall in the middle). This is paradoxical because both groups are categorized by the census as “Hispanic or Latino.” It is clear that social, environmental and genetic risk factors contribute to these health disparities. It is also clear that the distribution of these risk factors varies among racial/ethnic groups. However, disparities in asthma prevalence between Latino groups remain even when they live in similar environments. Therefore, asthma cannot be explained solely by environmental factors alone. To this end, we have created two large studies of asthma in children, GALA and SAGE. The Genetics of Asthma in Latino Americans (GALA) Study is a multicenter international collaboration. The goal of the GALA Study is to identify genetic and environmental risk factors for asthma and asthma severity among Mexicans and Puerto Ricans, the two largest Hispanic groups in the U.S. The Study of African Americans, Asthma, Genes & Environments (SAGE) is solely focused on African American children with and without asthma. I work in collaboration with a multi-disciplinary team from several Universities, which includes scientists with expertise in epidemiology, biostatistics, medicine, molecular and cell biology and genomics. Using tools from these disciplines, we perform comprehensive epidemiologic research (genetic, social and environmental) designed to untangle why populations differ in health and disease. We have leveraged the rich ancestry in these populations to untangle complex gene-environment interactions for health and disease. We have developed specific expertise in population-based genetic studies in racially mixed (admixed) populations. Most importantly, we are working to ensure that modern advances in research will benefit all populations.
San Francisco State University, B.S., 1984-1990 Cellular and Molecular Biology
Stanford University School of Medicine, 1990-1995, Medicine
Harvard School of Public Health, 1997, Program in Clinical Effectiveness
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Resident, 1995-1998, Internal Medicine
University of California, San Francisco, Fellow, 1998-2001, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Stanford University, 2001-2002, Genetic Epidemiology
University of California, Berkeley, M.P.H., 2005-2006, Epidemiology
1. Burchard EG, Ziv E, Coyle N, Lin-Gomez S, Tang H, Karter AJ, Mountain J, Perez-Stable EJ, Sheppard D, Risch N. (2003) The Importance of Race and Ethnic Background in Biomedical Research and Clinical Practice. N. Engl. J. Med. 348:1077-1192.
2. Burchard EG, Avila PC, Nazario S, Casal J, Torres A, Rodriguez-Santana JR, Toscano M, Senter-Sylvia J, Alioto ME, Salazar M, Gomez I, Fagan JK, Salas J, Lilly C, Matallana H, Ziv E, Castro R, Selman M, Chapela R, Sheppard D, Weiss ST, Ford JG, Boushey HA, Rodriguez-Cintron W, Drazen JM, Silverman EK (2004) Lower Bronchodilator Responsiveness in Puerto Rican than in Mexican Asthmatic Subjects. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 169:386-92.
3. Salari K, Choudhry S, Tang H, Naqvi M, Lind D, Avila PC, Coyle NE, Ung N, Nazario S, Casal J, Torres-Palacios A, Clark S, Phong A, Gomez I, Matallana H, Perez-Stable EJ, Shriver MD, Kwok PY, Sheppard D, Rodriguez-Cintron W, Risch NJ, Ziv E, Burchard EG. (2005) Genetic admixture and asthma-related phenotypes in Mexican American and Puerto Rican asthmatics. Genet. Epidemiol. 29:76-86.
4. Burchard EG, Borrell LN, Choudhry S, Naqvi M, Tsai HJ, Rodriguez-Santana JR, Chapela R, Rogers SD, Mei R, Rodriguez-Cintron W, Arena JF, Kittles R, Perez-Stable EJ, Ziv E, Risch N. (2005) Latino Populations: A unique opportunity for the study of race, genetics and social environment in epidemiologic research. Am. J. Public Health 95:2161-8.
5. Choudhry S, Coyle NE, Lind D, Tang H, Salari K, Clark SL, Ung N, Matallana H, Avila PC, Nazario S, Casal J, Torres A, Toscano M, Castro R, Rodriguez-Cintron W, Shriver MD, Kwok P-Y, Sheppard D, Risch N, Ziv E, Burchard EG (2006) Population stratification confounds genetic association studies among Latinos. Hum. Genet. 118:652-64.
6. Tsai HJ, Kho JY, Shaikh N, Choudhry S, Naqvi M, Navarro D, Matallana H, Castro R, Lilly CM, Watson HG, Meade K, Le Noir M, Thyne S, Ziv E, Burchard EG. (2006) Admixture-matched case-control study: A practical approach for genetic association studies in admixed populations. Hum. Genet. 118:626-39.
7. *Choudhry S, *Burchard EG, Borrell LN, Tang H, Gomez I, Naqvi M, Nazario S, Torres A, Casal J, Martinez-Cruzado JC, Ziv E, Avila PC, Rodriguez-Cintron W, Risch NJ (2006) Ancestry-environment interactions and asthma risk among Puerto Ricans. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 174:1088-93. *These authors contributed equally to this manuscript.
8. Tang H, Choudhry S, Mei R, Morgan M, Rodriguez-Cintron W, Burchard EG, Risch NJ (2007) Recent genetic selection in the ancestral admixture of Puerto Ricans. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 81:626-33 (PMC1950843).
9. Choudhry S, Taub M, Mei R, Rodriguez-Santana J, Rodriguez-Cintron W, Shriver MD, Ziv E, Risch NJ, Burchard EG (2008) Genome-wide screen for asthma in Puerto Ricans: Evidence for association with 5q23 region. Hum. Genet. 123:455-68 (PMC2664533).
10. Galanter J, Choudhry S, Eng C, Nazario S, Rodriguez-Santana J, Casal J, Torres A, Salas J, Chapela R, Watson HG, Meade K, LeNoir M, Rodriguez-Cintron W, Avila PC, Burchard EG (2008) ORMDL3 gene is associated with asthma in three ethnically diverse populations. Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. 177:1194-200 (PMC2408437).
11. Seibold MA, Reese TA, Choudhry S, Salam MT, Beckman K, Eng C, Atakilit A, Meade K, Lenoir M, Watson HG, Thyne S, Kumar R, Weiss KB, Grammer LC, Avila P, Schleimer RP, Fahy JV, Rodriguez-Santana J, Rodriguez-Cintron W, Boot RG, Sheppard D, Gilliland FD, Locksley RM, Burchard EG (2009) Differential enzymatic activity of common haplotypic versions of the human acidic mammalian chitinase protein. J. Biol. Chem. 284:19650-8 (PMC2740590).
12. Corvol H, De Giacomo A, Eng C, Seibold M, Ziv E, Chapela R, Rodriguez-Santana JR, Rodriguez-Cintron W, Thyne S, Watson HG, Meade K, LeNoir M, Avila PC, Choudhry S, Burchard EG (2009) Genetic ancestry modifies pharmacogenetic gene-gene interaction for asthma. Pharmacogenet. Genom. 19:489-96 (PMC2768127).
13. Hancock DB, Romieu I, Shi M, Sienra-Monge JJ, Wu H, Chiu GY, Li H, del Rio-Navarro BE, Willis-Owens SA, Weiss ST, Raby BA, Gao H, Eng C, Chapela R, Burchard EG, Tang H, Sullivan PF, London SJ (2009) Genome-wide association study implicates chromosome 9q21.31 as a susceptibility locus for asthma in Mexican children. PLoS Genet. 5:e1000623 (PMC2722731).
14. Risch N, Choudhry S, Via M, Basu A, Sebro R, Eng C, Beckman K, Thyne S, Chapela R, Rodriguez-Santana J, Rodriguez-Cintron W, Avila PC, Ziv E, Burchard EG (2009) Ancestry-related assortative mating in Latino populations. Genome Biol. 10:R132.
15. Mathias RA, Grant AV, Rafaels N, Hand T, Gao L, Vergara C, Tsai YJ, Yang M, Campbell M, Foster C, Gao P, Togias A, Hansel NN, Diette G, Adkinson NF, Liu MC, Faruque M, Dunston GM, Watson HR, Bracken MB, Hoh J, Maul P, Maul T, Jedlicka AE, Murray T, Hetmanski JB, Ashworth R, Ongaco CM, Hetrick KN, Doheny KF, Pugh EW, Rotimi CN, Ford J, Eng C, Burchard EG, Sleiman PM, Hakonarson H, Forno E, Raby BA, Weiss ST, Scott AF, Kabesch M, Liang L, Abecasis G, Moffatt MF, Cookson WO, Ruczinski I, Beaty TH, Barnes KC (2010) A genome-wide association study on African-ancestry populations for asthma. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 125:336-46.
16. Kumar R*, Seibold MA*, Aldrich MC*, Williams KL*, Reiner AP, Colangelo L, Galanter J, Gignoux C, Hu D, Sen S, Choudhry S, Peterson EL, Rodriguez-Santana J, Rodriguez-Cintron W, Nalls MA, Leak TS, O'Meara E, Meibohm B, Kritchevsky SB, Li R, Harris TB, Nickerson DA, Fornage M, Enright P, Ziv E, Smith LJ, Liu K, Burchard EG. (2010) Genetic ancestry and lung function predictions. (July 7, 2010, New England Journal of Medicine).