George T. O’Connor, MD

Professor, Medicine

George O'Connor
72 E. Concord St Housman (R)

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.

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

Education

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

Publications

  • Published on 2/27/2024

    McCauley KE, Durack J, Lynch KV, Fadrosh DW, Fujimura KE, Vundla F, Özçam M, LeBeau P, Caltroni A, Burns P, Tran HT, Bacharier LB, Kattan M, O'Connor GT, Wood RA, Togias A, Boushey HA, Jackson DJ, Gern JE, Lynch SV. Early-life Nasal Microbiota Dynamics Relate to Longitudinal Respiratory Phenotypes in Urban Children. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2024 Feb 27. PMID: 38423369.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 1/19/2024

    Kearney CM, Sangani R, Shankar D, O'Connor GT, Law AC, Walkey AJ, Bosch NA. Comparative Effectiveness of Mepolizumab, Benralizumab and Dupilumab among Patients with Difficult-to-Control Asthma. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2024 Jan 19. PMID: 38241013.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 1/18/2024

    Knihtilä HM, Stubbs BJ, Carey VJ, Laranjo N, Zeiger RS, Bacharier LB, O'Connor GT, Weiss ST, Litonjua AA. Preschool impulse oscillometry predicts active asthma and impaired lung function at school age. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2024 Jan 18. PMID: 38244724.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 1/4/2024

    Higbee DH, Lirio A, Hamilton F, Granell R, Wyss AB, London SJ, Bartz TM, Gharib SA, Cho MH, Wan E, Silverman E, Crapo JD, Lominchar JVT, Hansen T, Grarup N, Dantoft T, Kårhus L, Linneberg A, O'Connor GT, Dupuis J, Xu H, De Vries MM, Hu X, Rich SS, Barr RG, Manichaikul A, Wijnant SRA, Brusselle GG, Lahousse L, Li X, Hernández Cordero AI, Obeidat M, Sin DD, Harris SE, Redmond P, Taylor AM, Cox SR, Williams AT, Shrine N, John C, Guyatt AL, Hall IP, Davey Smith G, Tobin MD, Dodd JW. Genome-wide association study of preserved ratio impaired spirometry (PRISm). Eur Respir J. 2024 Jan; 63(1). PMID: 38097206.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 12/19/2023

    Mebratu YA, Jones JT, Liu C, Negasi ZH, Rahman M, Rojas-Quintero J, O'Connor GT, Gao W, Dupuis J, Cho MH, Litonjua AA, Randell S, Tesfaigzi Y. Bik promotes proteasomal degradation to control low-grade inflammation. J Clin Invest. 2023 Dec 19; 134(4). PMID: 38113109.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 11/7/2023

    Clay S, Alladina J, Smith NP, Visness CM, Wood RA, O'Connor GT, Cohen RT, Khurana Hershey GK, Kercsmar CM, Gruchalla RS, Gill MA, Liu AH, Kim H, Kattan M, Bacharier LB, Rastogi D, Rivera-Spoljaric K, Robison RG, Gergen PJ, Busse WW, Villani AC, Cho JL, Medoff BD, Gern JE, Jackson DJ, Ober C, Dapas M. Gene-based association study of rare variants in children of diverse ancestries implicates TNFRSF21 in the development of allergic asthma. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2024 Mar; 153(3):809-820. PMID: 37944567.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 10/28/2023

    Shadid ILC, Lee-Sarwar K, Lu Z, Yadama A, Laranjo N, Carey V, O'Connor GT, Zeiger RS, Bacharier L, Guchelaar HJ, Liu YY, Litonjua AA, Weiss ST, Mirzakhani H. Early life gut microbiome in children following spontaneous preterm birth and maternal preeclampsia. iScience. 2023 Dec 15; 26(12):108311. PMID: 38025771.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 10/16/2023

    Weiss ST, Mirzakhani H, Carey VJ, O'Connor GT, Zeiger RS, Bacharier LB, Stokes J, Litonjua AA. Prenatal vitamin D supplementation to prevent childhood asthma: 15-year results from the Vitamin D Antenatal Asthma Reduction Trial (VDAART). J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2024 Feb; 153(2):378-388. PMID: 37852328.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 10/15/2023

    Patchen BK, Balte P, Bartz TM, Barr RG, Fornage M, Graff M, Jacobs DR, Kalhan R, Lemaitre RN, O'Connor G, Psaty B, Seo J, Tsai MY, Wood AC, Xu H, Zhang J, Gharib SA, Manichaikul A, North K, Steffen LM, Dupuis J, Oelsner E, Hancock DB, Cassano PA. Investigating Associations of Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Lung Function Decline, and Airway Obstruction. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2023 Oct 15; 208(8):846-857. PMID: 37470492.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 10/10/2023

    Menon AA, Lee M, Ke X, Putman RK, Hino T, Rose JA, Duan F, Ash SY, Cho MH, O'Connor GT, Dupuis J, Hatabu H, Lenburg ME, Billatos ES, Hunninghake GM. Bronchial epithelial gene expression and interstitial lung abnormalities. Respir Res. 2023 Oct 10; 24(1):245. PMID: 37817229.

    Read at: PubMed

View 330 more publications: View full profile at BUMC

View all profiles