Joel D. Kaufman, MD, MPH
About
Dr. Kaufman is a physician-epidemiologist, board-certified in internal medicine and occupational medicine. He has been a full-time faculty member at the UW since 1997, currently holding appointments in the Departments of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, and Medicine (General Internal Medicine), and Epidemiology. He also serves as the Director of the UW Center for Exposures, Diseases, Genomics and Environment at DEOHS.
In 2019, Dr Kaufman was named editor-in-chief of Environmental Health Perspectives, a leading environmental health journal published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Medicine.
Dr. Kaufman's work integrates epidemiology, exposure sciences, toxicology and clinical medicine. His current research activities are primarily focused on environmental factors in chronic diseases. He is the principal investigator of a major epidemiological prospective cohort study of air pollution and cardiovascular disease (The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and Air Pollution, or “MESA Air”). He directs the UW Northlake Controlled Exposure Facility, a facility customized for experimental inhalation toxicology studies on health effects of combustion products, including diesel exhaust.
Education
- MD, University of Michigan
- MPH, University of Washington
- BA, University of Michigan
Affiliations
Mentorship
Available to mentor new Master's students in autumn 2026. Please follow the instructions on the How To Apply page.
DEOHS Students Mentored
Associations Between Long-Term Ambient Air Pollution, Neighborhood Physical Disinvestment, and Incident Diabetes in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos
Cara Smith | PhD | 2025 | View
Environmental Health Assessment Program and Climate and Health Program partnership evaluation
Gabrielle Felder | MPH | 2020 | View
Ambient Air Pollution and Lung Cancer Risk in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study
Shilpa Gowda | MPH | 2016 | View
Contribution of the In-Vehicle Microenvironment to Individual Ambient Source-Derived NO2 Exposure Concentration
Tyler Nicholas | MS Thesis | 2014 | View
Is There a Golden Hour in Combat Casualty Evacuation? Joint Theater Trauma Registry 2003 through 2011
Scott Robinson | MPH | 2014 | View
Research
Interests: Environmental and occupational epidemiology. Health effects of ambient air pollution and traffic-related air pollution exposures. Environmental factors in chronic diseases, including cardiovascular, respiratory and neurodegenerative diseases. Occupational asthma.
Projects
- The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and Air Pollution (MESA Air). The MESA Air project has followed more than 6,000 participants since 2000 to understand the predictors of cardiovascular diseases. MESA Air has added state-of-the-art characterization of air pollutant exposures in this population and is studying the relationship between these exposures and the development of cardiovascular and other chronic diseases.
- Air Pollution, the Social Environment and Alzheimer's Disease: Risk and Resilience. This study examines more than 3,000 older adults living in diverse regions of the US who participated in the Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory study, a clinical trial that rigorously evaluated for development of Alzheimer's disease). We are characterizing the environmental and social environments of these individuals to understand risk factors for Alzheimer's disease.
- Air Pollutants and Cardiovascular Risk: Investigating Thresholds with Pooled Cohorts and Electronic Health Records. This project examines the relationship between air pollution and heart disease at the lower concentrations now experienced in the United States. Our group is leading a collaboration with investigators across the US to study this relationship in established epidemiological cohorts that total 1 million participants and electronic health records from a major health maintenance organization.
- SPIROMICS: Air Pollution Study. This multisite, prospective cohort study is evaluating the impact of air pollutants on progression and exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Dr. Kaufman co-leads this project with Professor Nadia Hansel of Johns Hopkins University. This project adds air pollution exposure monitoring and modeling to an NHLBI cohort study--the Subpopulations and Intermediate Outcome Measures in COPD Study (SPIROMICS).
Dr. Kaufman also directs a specialized inhalation toxicology facility addressing the health effects of traffic-derived air pollutants such as diesel exhaust.
Publications
Selected publications
- The Association between Long-Term Air Pollution and Urinary Catecholamines: Evidence from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.
- Long-Term Exposure to Ambient Ozone and Progression of Subclinical Arterial Disease: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and Air Pollution.
- The cross-sectional and longitudinal association between air pollution and salivary cortisol: Evidence from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.