Jagadeesh Puvvula, PharmD, PhD, MPH
Jagadeesh Puvvula, PharmD, PhD, MPH
Jagadeesh Puvvula, PharmD, PhD, MPH, is a trainee in the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics. He works at the intersection between environmental health and epidemiology.
Jagadeesh earned his graduate training in environmental health and toxicology and has worked closely with mentors across epidemiology and environmental health.
In this Q&A, Jagadeesh shares insights into his research, the real-world relevance of environmental health studies, and the value he finds in mentorship, collaboration, and Penn’s interdisciplinary community.
Can you tell us about your current research and what inspired you to pursue this area?
Under the mentorship of Dr. Aimin Chen, I study how early-life exposure to environmental hazards influences human health. I focus on both the contextual factors quantified using remote sensing earth observations and environmental chemical exposures using biomarkers, with a vision to potentially understand the cumulative impact of environmental stressors on human health. I also leverage biological intermediates such as the epigenome, transcriptome, and metabolome to understand molecular mechanisms underlying the exposure-response associations.
I experienced the flavor of environmental health research while working as a graduate assistant with Dr. Eleanor Rogan at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. This experience transformed my perspective on pathophysiology—reframing environmental stressors as central, modifiable determinants of human disease—and redirected my professional focus from clinical epidemiology to environmental epidemiology. She encouraged me to apply for the environmental health/toxicology graduate program. Since beginning my graduate program, I have worked closely with Drs. Jesse Bell, Eleanor Rogan, and Jill Poole, who consistently sparked my curiosity in research. Although my dissertation work involved quantifying exposure-response associations at a community scale, I was inspired by Drs. Rogan and Poole’s work who use human biospecimens to understand molecular mechanisms. With this collective enthusiasm, I started my postdoctoral training with Dr. Chen, who trained and provided me with several opportunities to pursue my goal and advance my career in environmental health research.
How does your research intersect with real-world challenges?
Humans interact with a multitude of environmental hazards (such as chemicals used in the production of consumer products) on a daily basis, and their impact on human health is understudied. Unlike the pharmaceuticals that undergo rigorous pre-/post-marketing surveillance for safety/efficacy, environmental chemicals are typically unregulated. They are bound to phase out of use if found harmful in the real-world setting. For example, lead usage in toys/jewelry, bisphenol-A in bottles/sipping cups for children, and phthalates in pacifiers were found to be harmful to children even at a microdose and were regulated thereafter. Our work has substantial translational potential in educating the population at scale to make a healthy lifestyle choice to minimize the burden of environmental chemicals on human health.
What do you find most rewarding about working in the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics?
DBEI has faculty with expertise in diverse fields, which provided me a platform to receive training in multidisciplinary research. With my interest in exposome research, I truly benefited from the multidisciplinary expertise of our faculty. Additionally, the department’s strong ties with the Philadelphia Regional Center for Children’s Environmental Health (PRCCEH) and the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET) allowed me to learn molecular-level biological insights that complemented my training in epidemiology.
Can you share a significant recent project, publication, or professional recognition that you are particularly proud of contributing to or achieving?
As a trainee, I am proud of contributing to a study led by Dr. Chen, where we measured biomarkers of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, epigenome from the placenta and cord blood, and metabolome from maternal/cord serum. This experience provided me with strong foundational knowledge on molecular epidemiology and introduced me to several bioinformatics tools. I am very excited to expand this work (funded by NIEHS), looking at the mechanistic associations between life-course exposures to EDCs and adolescent neurobehavior/brain morphology, using the epigenome and proteome as biological intermediates. I am particularly excited to learn and apply causal mediation, multiple mediation, multi-modal, and multi-omic methods in epidemiologic research under the mentorship of Drs. Aimin Chen, Enrique Schisterman, Joseph Braun, Hongzhe Li, Kelli Brunst, Kim Cecil, and Yinan Zheng.
What advice would you give to students or early-career professionals in your field?
I highly recommend taking complete advantage of the resource-rich environment at Penn by attending seminars, presentations, and workshops, which I believe will enrich critical thinking and provide inspiration for methodological adaptations across disciplines.
What is an interest or pastime that you enjoy outside of academia?
Besides work, I enjoy watching documentaries about influential people, landmark events, and listening to Carnatic instrumental music.