About

John Meeker, ScD, CIH, is a Professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences and a Senior Associate Dean for Research at the U-M School of Public Health. He holds a BS in Industrial Technology from Iowa State University and earned both an MS and a Doctor of Science (ScD) in Environmental Science and Engineering and Exposure, Epidemiology and Risk from Harvard University, where he also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Environmental and Reproductive Epidemiology. His work focuses on defining sources, magnitudes, and consequences of human exposure to environmental and occupational contaminants, as well as evaluating strategies to control harmful exposures. Dr. Meeker's research involves human exposure science and reproductive and developmental epidemiology studies of endocrine disrupting chemicals such as phthalates, BPA, pesticides, PFAS, and flame retardants. He is the principal investigator on numerous large-scale research projects and has served on editorial, peer-review, and advisory boards for agencies including the EPA, NIH, CDC, and NAS. His research projects span topics like exposure assessment, health impacts of environmental agents, and mechanisms underlying reproductive health and child development, with particular emphasis on biomarkers and environmental factors affecting fetal growth, preterm birth, neurodevelopment, and fertility. His contributions include advancing understanding of how environmental exposures influence health outcomes and developing methods for exposure measurement and risk assessment.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Biology
• Internal medicine
• Genetics
• Endocrinology
• Demography
• Physiology
• Food science
• Chemistry
• Environmental health
• Bioinformatics

Selected publications

• Host factors are associated with vaginal microbiome structure in pregnancy in the ECHO Cohort Consortium

  Scientific Reports · 2024 · 8 citations

  • Biology
  • Demography
  • Medicine

  Using pooled vaginal microbiota data from pregnancy cohorts (N = 683 participants) in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program, we analyzed 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequences to identify clinical and demographic host factors that associate with vaginal microbiota structure in pregnancy both within and across diverse cohorts. Using PERMANOVA models, we assessed factors associated with vaginal community structure in pregnancy, examined whether host factors were conserved across populations, and tested the independent and combined effects of host factors on vaginal community state types (CSTs) using multinomial logistic regression models. Demographic and social factors explained a larger amount of variation in the vaginal microbiome in pregnancy than clinical factors. After adjustment, lower education, rather than self-identified race, remained a robust predictor of L. iners dominant (CST III) and diverse (CST IV) (OR = 8.44, 95% CI = 4.06-17.6 and OR = 4.18, 95% CI = 1.88-9.26, respectively). In random forest models, we identified specific taxonomic features of host factors, particularly urogenital pathogens associated with pregnancy complications (Aerococcus christensenii and Gardnerella spp.) among other facultative anaerobes and key markers of community instability (L. iners). Sociodemographic factors were robustly associated with vaginal microbiota structure in pregnancy and should be considered as sources of variation in human microbiome studies.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO)-Wide Cohort

  American Journal of Epidemiology · 2023 · 177 citations

  • Medicine
  • Environmental health
  • Gerontology

  The Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO)-Wide Cohort Study (EWC), a collaborative research design comprising 69 cohorts in 31 consortia, was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2016 to improve children's health in the United States. The EWC harmonizes extant data and collects new data using a standardized protocol, the ECHO-Wide Cohort Data Collection Protocol (EWCP). EWCP visits occur at least once per life stage, but the frequency and timing of the visits vary across cohorts. As of March 4, 2022, the EWC cohorts contributed data from 60,553 children and consented 29,622 children for new EWCP data and biospecimen collection. The median (interquartile range) age of EWCP-enrolled children was 7.5 years (3.7-11.1). Surveys, interviews, standardized examinations, laboratory analyses, and medical record abstraction are used to obtain information in 5 main outcome areas: pre-, peri-, and postnatal outcomes; neurodevelopment; obesity; airways; and positive health. Exposures include factors at the level of place (e.g., air pollution, neighborhood socioeconomic status), family (e.g., parental mental health), and individuals (e.g., diet, genomics).

  DOI

• Birth Outcomes in Relation to Prenatal Exposure to Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances and Stress in the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program

  Environmental Health Perspectives · 2023 · 98 citations

  • Medicine
  • Obstetrics
  • Internal medicine

  BACKGROUND: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are persistent and ubiquitous chemicals associated with risk of adverse birth outcomes. Results of previous studies have been inconsistent. Associations between PFAS and birth outcomes may be affected by psychosocial stress. OBJECTIVES: We estimated risk of adverse birth outcomes in relation to prenatal PFAS concentrations and evaluate whether maternal stress modifies those relationships. METHODS: We included 3,339 participants from 11 prospective prenatal cohorts in the Environmental influences on the Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program to estimate the associations of five PFAS and birth outcomes. We stratified by perceived stress scale scores to examine effect modification and used Bayesian Weighted Sums to estimate mixtures of PFAS. RESULTS: ; 95% HPD: 0.29, 0.82). Perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA) explained the highest percentage (40%) of the summed effect in both models. Associations were not modified by maternal perceived stress. DISCUSSION: Our large, multi-cohort study of PFAS and adverse birth outcomes found a negative association between prenatal PFAS and birthweight-for-gestational-age, and the associations were not different in groups with high vs. low perceived stress. This study can help inform policy to reduce exposures in the environment and humans. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP10723.

  DOI

• Associations Between Prenatal Urinary Biomarkers of Phthalate Exposure and Preterm Birth

  JAMA Pediatrics · 2022 · 85 citations

  • Medicine
  • Obstetrics
  • Physiology

  Importance: Phthalate exposure is widespread among pregnant women and may be a risk factor for preterm birth. Objective: To investigate the prospective association between urinary biomarkers of phthalates in pregnancy and preterm birth among individuals living in the US. Design, Setting, and Participants: Individual-level data were pooled from 16 preconception and pregnancy studies conducted in the US. Pregnant individuals who delivered between 1983 and 2018 and provided 1 or more urine samples during pregnancy were included. Exposures: Urinary phthalate metabolites were quantified as biomarkers of phthalate exposure. Concentrations of 11 phthalate metabolites were standardized for urine dilution and mean repeated measurements across pregnancy were calculated. Main Outcomes and Measures: Logistic regression models were used to examine the association between each phthalate metabolite with the odds of preterm birth, defined as less than 37 weeks of gestation at delivery (n = 539). Models pooled data using fixed effects and adjusted for maternal age, race and ethnicity, education, and prepregnancy body mass index. The association between the overall mixture of phthalate metabolites and preterm birth was also examined with logistic regression. G-computation, which requires certain assumptions to be considered causal, was used to estimate the association with hypothetical interventions to reduce the mixture concentrations on preterm birth. Results: The final analytic sample included 6045 participants (mean [SD] age, 29.1 [6.1] years). Overall, 802 individuals (13.3%) were Black, 2323 (38.4%) were Hispanic/Latina, 2576 (42.6%) were White, and 328 (5.4%) had other race and ethnicity (including American Indian/Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, >1 racial identity, or reported as other). Most phthalate metabolites were detected in more than 96% of participants. Higher odds of preterm birth, ranging from 12% to 16%, were observed in association with an interquartile range increase in urinary concentrations of mono-n-butyl phthalate (odds ratio [OR], 1.12 [95% CI, 0.98-1.27]), mono-isobutyl phthalate (OR, 1.16 [95% CI, 1.00-1.34]), mono(2-ethyl-5-carboxypentyl) phthalate (OR, 1.16 [95% CI, 1.00-1.34]), and mono(3-carboxypropyl) phthalate (OR, 1.14 [95% CI, 1.01-1.29]). Among approximately 90 preterm births per 1000 live births in this study population, hypothetical interventions to reduce the mixture of phthalate metabolite levels by 10%, 30%, and 50% were estimated to prevent 1.8 (95% CI, 0.5-3.1), 5.9 (95% CI, 1.7-9.9), and 11.1 (95% CI, 3.6-18.3) preterm births, respectively. Conclusions and Relevance: Results from this large US study population suggest that phthalate exposure during pregnancy may be a preventable risk factor for preterm delivery.

  DOI

• Urinary paraben and phenol concentrations driving markers of inflammation among pregnant women in Puerto Rico

  ISEE Conference Abstracts · 2022

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Physiology
  • Medicine
  • Environmental health

  Background and Aim: Widespread exposure to phenols and parabens is a potential contributing factor for increased inflammation and adverse birth outcomes, but these effects are not well-studied in humans. This study aimed to investigate relationships between urinary concentrations of 8 phenols and 4 parabens with 6 inflammatory biomarkers (C-reactive protein (CRP), matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) 1, MMP2, MMP9, intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), and vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1)) repeatedly measured across pregnancy in the Puerto Rico PROTECT birth cohort. We hypothesized that biomarkers of phenol and paraben exposure would be associated with upregulation of inflammatory markers. Methods: Phenol and paraben concentrations in spot urine samples were measured using tandem mass spectrometry. Inflammation biomarkers were measured in blood serum using customized Luminex assays. Linear mixed models were used to assess relationships between exposures, outcomes, and covariates (maternal age, education, pre-pregnancy BMI, and specific gravity), and in sensitivity analyses, models were stratified by fetal sex. Results are expressed as the percent change in outcome per interquartile range increase in exposure. Results: Significant positive associations were found between bisphenol-A and CRP (9.68%, CI: 0.56, 19.62); bisphenol-S and MMP9 (6.41%, CI: 0.92, 12.19); and methylparaben and MMP1 (10.94%, CI: 2.31, 20.30). Many associations were stronger among women carrying a female fetus in sex-stratified models. However, significant negative relationships were also observed between several phenols and inflammatory markers. Conclusions: Our preliminary results suggest that bisphenol-A, bisphenol-S, and methylparaben may upregulate inflammatory processes pertaining to systemic inflammation and uterine remodeling, with important implications for pregnancy outcomes. However, several phenols may also interfere with inflammatory regulation, leading to downregulation. More research is needed to further our understanding of these relationships in an effort to improve reproductive and developmental outcomes. Keywords: inflammation, phenols, parabens, PROTECT, pregnancy

  DOI

• Exposure to Phenols, Phthalates, and Parabens and Development of Metabolic Syndrome Among Mexican Women in Midlife

  Frontiers in Public Health · 2021 · 47 citations

  • Medicine
  • Internal medicine
  • Endocrinology

  We found EDCs measured in 2008 were marginally predictive of hypertriglyceridemia and hypertension 9 years later. Results suggest that lower exposure to certain toxicants was related to lower markers of metabolic risk among midlife women.

  DOI

• Identification of environmental chemicals targeting miscarriage genes and pathways using the comparative toxicogenomics database

  Environmental Research · 2020 · 35 citations

  • Computational biology
  • Biology
  • Bioinformatics
  DOI

• Maternal blood metal and metalloid concentrations in association with birth outcomes in Northern Puerto Rico

  Environment International · 2020 · 112 citations

  • Medicine
  • Obstetrics
  • Demography

  BACKGROUND: In previous studies, exposures to heavy metals such as Pb and Cd have been associated with adverse birth outcomes; however, knowledge on effects at low levels of exposure and of other elements remain limited. METHOD: We examined individual and mixture effects of metals and metalloids on birth outcomes among 812 pregnant women in the Puerto Rico Testsite for Exploring Contamination Threats (PROTECT) cohort. We measured 16 essential and non-essential metal(loid)s in maternal blood collected at 16-20 and 24-28 weeks gestation. We used linear and logistic regression to independently examine associations between geometric mean (GM) concentrations of each metal across visits and gestational age, birthweight z-scores, preterm birth, small for gestational age (SGA), and large for gestational age (LGA). We evaluated effect modification with infant sex*metal interaction terms. To identify critical windows of susceptibility, birth outcomes were regressed on visit-specific metal concentrations. Furthermore, average metal concentrations were divided into tertiles to examine the potential for non-linear relationships. We used elastic net (ENET) regularization to construct Environmental Risk Score (ERS) as a metal risk score and Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression (BKMR) to identify individual metals most critical to each outcome, accounting for correlated exposures. RESULTS: In adjusted models, an interquartile range (IQR) increase in GM lead (Pb) was associated with 1.63 higher odds of preterm birth (95%CI = 1.17, 2.28) and 2 days shorter gestational age (95% CI = -3.1, -0.5). Manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn) were also associated with higher odds of preterm birth and shorter gestational age; the associations were strongest among the highest tertile for Mn and among females for Zn. Mercury (Hg) was associated with higher risk of preterm birth at the later window of pregnancy. Ni measured later in pregnancy was associated with lower odds of SGA. ENET and BKMR models selected similar metals as "important" predictors of birth outcomes. The association between ERS and preterm birth was assessed and the third tertile of ERS was significantly associated with an elevated odds ratio of 2.13 (95% CI = 1.12, 5.49) for preterm birth compared to the first tertile. CONCLUSION: As the PROTECT cohort has lower Pb concentrations (GM = 0.33 μg/dL) compared to the mainland US, our findings suggest that low-level prenatal lead exposure, as well as elevated Mn and Zn exposure, may adversely affect birth outcomes. Improved understanding on environmental factors contributing to preterm birth, together with sustainable technologies to remove contamination, will have a direct impact in Puerto Rico and elsewhere.

  DOI

Frequent coauthors

• Deborah J. Watkins

  15 shared

• José F. Cordero

  University of Georgia

  15 shared

• Akram N. Alshawabkeh

  13 shared

• Carmen M. Vélez-Vega

  University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus

  6 shared

• Amber L. Cathey

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  6 shared

• Anne L. Dunlop

  Emory University

  5 shared

• Emily Zimmerman

  5 shared

• Nigel Paneth

  Cohort (United Kingdom)

  4 shared

Labs

• Meeker LabPI

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