George T. O'Connor, MD

Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

My research focuses on epidemiology, including genetic epidemiology, and clinical investigations of asthma, allergy, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and sleep apnea. I am currently a multiple PI and Co-director of the NHLBI's Framingham Heart Study, and I am a co-investigator in the Risk Underlying Rural Areas Longitudinal (RURAL) Cohort Study. I am the Boston University-Boston Medical Center principal investigator of multiple NIH-funded multi-center investigations, including the All of Us Research Program, the Childhood Asthma in Urban Settings (CAUSE) consortium, and the Vitamin D Antenatal Asthma Reduction Trial (VDAART). I have led the BU-BMC site of clinical trials in children and adolescents with asthma and the Urban Environment and Childhood Asthma (URECA) birth-cohort study examining the risk factors for asthma and allergy in urban settings. l conduct epidemiologic and genetic epidemiologic research at the Framingham Heart Study, including genome-wide association studies seeking novel genetic determinants of lung function impairment, interstitial lung abnormalities, and atopy. My research spans disciplines including adult medicine, pediatrics, epidemiology, genetics and genomics, immunology, and environmental science. At Boston Medical Center, my outpatient practice focuses on adults with asthma, COPD, and bronchiectasis. I am an Associate Editor of JAMA.

Publications

  • Published 6/9/2026

    Kim W, Hu X, Kim K, Chun S, Orchard P, Qiao D, Ruczinski I, Saferali A, Aguet F, Antonacci-Fulton L, Balte PP, Bartz TM, Anamika WJ, Zhou X, Duan J, Brody JA, Cade BE, Daviglus ML, Doddapaneni H, Dugan-Perez S, Dutcher SK, Frazar CD, Gabriel SB, Gharib SA, Gupta N, Hobbs BD, Kasela S, Loehr LR, Metcalf GA, Muzny DM, Oelsner EC, Rasmussen-Torvik LJ, Sitlani CM, Smith J, Sofer T, Xu H, Yu B, Zhang D, Ziniti J, Barr RG, Carson AP, Fornage M, Hou L, Kalhan R, Kaplan R, Lappalainen T, London SJ, Morrison AC, O'Connor GT, Psaty BM, Raffield LM, Redline S, Rich SS, Rotter JI, Silverman EK, Manichaikul A, Cho MH. Publisher Correction: Whole genome sequence analysis of pulmonary function and COPD in 44,287 multi-ancestry participants. Genome Biol. 2026 Jun 09; 27(1). PMID: 42265570.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 6/4/2026

    Steininger HM, McCauley KE, Braga GE, Morin A, Lee KE, Visness CM, Fadrosh DW, Dapas M, O'Connor GT, Bacharier LB, Rivera-Spoljaric K, Kattan M, Lemanske RF, Zoratti EM, Martinez FD, Gold DR, Hartert TV, Johnson CC, Miller RL, Seroogy CM, Wood RA, Togias A, Jackson DJ, Gern JE, Ober C, Lynch SV. Upper airway microbiome interacts with GSDMB and ORMDL3 asthma risk SNPs to influence early-life wheeze risk. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2026 Jun 04. PMID: 42248217.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 6/1/2026

    Chiles JW, Rocco A, Srinivasasainagendra V, Rossiter HB, Casaburi R, Thalacker-Mercer A, Wells JM, Wan ES, Silverman EK, Cho MH, Hersh CP, Psaty BM, Gharib SA, Gao Y, O'Connor GT, Lange LA, Rich SS, Manichaikul AW, Barr RG, Ortega VE, Meyers DA, Smith AV, Tiwari HK, McDonald MN. Whole Genome Sequence Analysis of Weight Loss in 16?972 Participants With COPD Reveals Novel Risk Loci in DRAIC and RFX3. J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 2026 Jun; 17(3):e70293. PMID: 42026014.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 5/17/2026

    Bhatt SP, Sun Y, Wang Y, Balte PP, Schwartz JE, Cassano P, Chaves PH, Couper D, Jacobs DR, Kalhan R, Kaplan RC, Lloyd-Jones D, Newman AB, O'Connor GT, Sadatsafavi M, Umans JG, White WB, Yende S, Oelsner EC. Life Expectancy in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. JAMA Intern Med. 2026 May 17. PMID: 42143630.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 5/1/2026

    Zhang J, Moll M, Debban CL, Hobbs BD, Rijhwani H, Washko GR, Celli BR, Silverman EK, Bakke P, Oelsner EC, Barr RG, Agustí A, Faner R, Bruselle GG, Humphries SM, Lynch DA, Dupuis J, Manichaikul AW, O'Connor GT, Cho MH. Body Mass Index-related genetic factors and COPD imaging phenotypes. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2026 May 01; 23(5):720-727. PMID: 41721747.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 385 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Other Positions

  • Ad-interim Director; Co-Principle Investigator
    Framingham Heart Study
  • Member, Pulmonary Center
    Boston University
  • Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research
    Boston University
  • Member, Genome Science Institute
    Boston University

Websites

Education

  • Boston University School of Medicine, MD
  • Harvard School of Public Health, MS
  • Boston University, BA

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