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 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

  • Published 4/9/2026

    Aggarwal M, Joehanes R, Huan T, Courchesne P, Dupuis J, O'Connor G, Levy D. Integrative Proteomic Profiling of Blood Pressure and Hypertension. Hypertension. 2026 Apr 09. PMID: 41953991.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 3/19/2026

    Saw WY, Kim K, Huang Y, Yun JH, Ma X, Bacon J, Pershad Y, Levy D, O'Connor GT, Boerwinkle E, Barr RG, Rich SS, Rotter JI, Carson AP, Raffield LM, Gharib SA, Bartz TM, Psaty BM, Sofer T, North KE, Kaplan R, Oelsner EC, Manichaikul A, Bick AG, Scheet P, Reiner AP, Jakubek YA, Auer PL, Cho MH, DeMeo DL. Mosaic Loss of Y chromosome associates with lung function, emphysema and epigenetic aging. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2026 Mar 19. PMID: 42085243.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 2/28/2026

    Patchen BK, Zhang J, Gaddis N, Bartz TM, Chen J, Debban C, Leonard H, Nguyen NQH, Seo J, Tern C, Allen R, DeMeo DL, Fornage M, Melbourne C, Minto M, Moll M, O'Connor GT, Pottinger T, Psaty BM, Rich SS, Rotter JI, Silverman EK, Stratford J, Zhang C, Barr RG, Cho MH, Gharib SA, Manichaikul A, North K, Oelsner EC, Simonsick EM, Tobin MD, Yu B, Choi SH, Dupuis J, Cassano PA, Hancock DB. Multi-ancestry genome-wide association study and meta-analysis of lung function decline. Respir Res. 2026 Feb 28; 27(1). PMID: 41764487.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 381 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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