Stephen Buka
· Professor of EpidemiologyBrown University · Microbiology and Immunology
Active 1987–2025
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About
Stephen L. Buka, ScD, is a Professor and was the Founding Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health. His work centers on the causes and prevention of neuropsychiatric disorders, with extensive research in neuropsychology and psychiatric epidemiology. Dr. Buka has directed several major longitudinal studies examining the impact of birth complications, environmental hazards, and socioeconomic conditions on behavioral and intellectual development. He originated and directs the New England Family Study, a prospective, three-generation study involving over 5000 participants, which combines a family design, discordant sibling sets, molecular genetics, biological assays, psychiatric, neuropsychological, and functional imaging assessments. Additionally, Dr. Buka has served as Principal Investigator for the National Children’s Study at multiple sites and has been involved in the NCS Executive Steering Committee for seven years. He has served on several Institute of Medicine expert committees and in advisory roles to multiple federal and state agencies.
Research topics
- Medicine
- Internal medicine
- Psychology
- Environmental health
- Obstetrics
- Biology
- Psychiatry
- Statistics
- Developmental psychology
- Physiology
Selected publications
BMC Medicine · 2020 · 151 citations
BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak is evolving rapidly worldwide. However, little is known about the association between pregnant women with COVID-19 and the risk of adverse birth outcomes. METHOD: We conducted a retrospective cohort study based on the Maternal and Child Health Information System (MCHIMS) of Wuhan, China. All pregnant women with singleton live birth recorded by the system between January 13 and March 18, 2020, were included. The adverse birth outcomes w…
The Lancet Psychiatry · 2020 · 100 citations
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2021 · 67 citations
Stress is associated with numerous chronic diseases, beginning in fetal development with in utero exposures (prenatal stress) impacting offspring's risk for disorders later in life. In previous studies, we demonstrated adverse maternal in utero immune activity on sex differences in offspring neurodevelopment at age seven and adult risk for major depression and psychoses. Here, we hypothesized that in utero exposure to maternal proinflammatory cytokines has sex-dependent effects on specific brain…
Child Abuse & Neglect · 2020 · 44 citations
International Journal of Behavioral Medicine · 2020 · 36 citations
Recent grants
NIH · $1.7M · 2012
NIH · $162k · 2004
NIH · $837k · 2005
Frequent coauthors
- 359 shared
Jill M. Goldstein
Harvard University
- 311 shared
Larry J. Seidman
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
- 230 shared
Ming T. Tsuang
- 171 shared
William J. Culpepper
Veterans Health Administration
- 171 shared
Lorene M. Nelson
- 171 shared
Nicholas G. LaRocca
National Multiple Sclerosis Society
- 171 shared
Laurie Wagner
McKing Consulting (United States)
- 171 shared
Helen Tremlett
University of British Columbia
Education
Other, Epidemiology
Brown University School of Public Health
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