George T. O’Connor MD

Professor, Pulmonary, Allergy, Sleep & Critical Care Medicine

Member, Genome Science Institute

72 E. Concord Street | (617) 638-4470
george.o'connor@bmc.org
george.oconnor@bmc.org
goconnor@bu.edu

Sections

Pulmonary, Allergy, Sleep & Critical Care Medicine

Centers

Pulmonary Center

Framingham Heart Study

Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research

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.

Websites

BU Profile

Boston Medical Center Provider Profile

Pulmonary, Allergy, Sleep & Critical Care Medicine Faculty

College of Engineering Faculty

Public Relations - BU Experts

Education

MD, Boston University School of Medicine

MS, Harvard School of Public Health

BA, Boston University

Publications

Published on 4/2/2024

Konno-Yamamoto A, Goswamy V, Calatroni A, Gergen PJ, Johnson M, Sorkness RL, Bacharier LB, O'Connor GT, Kattan M, Wood RA, Gagalis L, Visness CM, Gern JE. Relationships between lung function, allergy, and wheezing in urban children. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2024 Apr 02. PMID: 38574825.

PubMed

Published on 3/12/2024

Seo J, Gaddis NC, Patchen BK, Xu J, Barr RG, O'Connor G, Manichaikul AW, Gharib SA, Dupuis J, North KE, Cassano PA, Hancock DB. Exploiting meta-analysis of genome-wide interaction with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D to identify novel genetic loci associated with pulmonary function. Am J Clin Nutr. 2024 Mar 12. PMID: 38484975.

PubMed

Published on 3/12/2024

Zhang J, Moll M, Hobbs BD, Bakke P, Regan EA, Xu H, Dupuis J, Chiles JW, McDonald MN, Divo MJ, Silverman EK, Celli BR, O'Connor GT, Cho MH. Genetically Predicted Body Mass Index and Mortality in COPD. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2024 Mar 12. PMID: 38471013.

PubMed

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

PubMed

View full list of 343 publications.