William Gauderman, PhD

Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences

Division Chief of Biostatistics

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Overview

Dr. Gauderman’s research falls into two distinct areas:

1) developing statistical methods for genetic-epidemiologic analysis of pedigree data; 2) design and analysis of studies relating health outcomes to environmental exposures. In the field of genetic-epidemiology, he has developed models and methods of estimation for complex traits that depend on both genetic and environment causes, possibly interacting. He has evaluated a technique known as joint segregation and linkage analysis and has found it to be an efficient strategy both for detecting linkage and for estimating gene-environment interactions when the disease gene has not yet been identified. He has also compared various case-control designs for studying measured genes (e.g. candidate genes). In the field of environmental health, he works with the Children’s Health Study, a multi-community study of lung function and respiratory health in school-aged children in the Southern California area. The ultimate goal of this research is to determine whether air pollution, or particular components of air pollution such as ozone, is associated with reduced lung growth and increased incidence of asthma, bronchitis, and other respiratory illnesses. He is also the principal investigator of the biostatistics core of the NIEHS Center, and thus is available for statistical consultation for projects involving environmental health.

Research Funding

  • An integrative omics approach to investigate gene-environment interaction in colorectal cancer risk
    NIH · R01CA273198 · Jun 1, 2023 – May 31, 2028 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator
  • Using functional genomics to inform gene environment interactions for colorectal cancer
    NIH · R01CA201407 · Sep 23, 2016 – Aug 31, 2021 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator
  • Statistical Methods for Integrative Genomics in Cancer
    NIH · P01CA196569 · Jul 1, 2016 – Aug 31, 2027 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator
  • Gene-Environment Analyses of Early Life Exposures and Asthma in Ethnically Diverse Children
    NIH · R21ES024844 · Dec 1, 2014 – Nov 30, 2017 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator
  • Air pollution effects on asthma and lung function in Hispanic children
    NIH · R03ES022719 · Jun 20, 2013 – May 31, 2016 · Role: Principal Investigator
  • Detecting GxE Interactions in Genome-wide Association Studies
    NIH · R21HL115606 · Mar 1, 2012 – Feb 29, 2016 · Role: Principal Investigator
  • Software to compute sample size for high-volume genetic studies
    NIH · R41CA141852 · Aug 1, 2009 – Jul 31, 2012 · Role: Principal Investigator
  • Remote Sensing of Wildfire Smoke Exposures to Assess Health Effects
    NIH · R21ES016986 · Sep 5, 2008 – Aug 31, 2011 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator
  • A Genome-wide Association Study of Childhood Respiratory Outcomes
    NIH · R01HL087680 · May 20, 2007 – Apr 30, 2011 · Role: Principal Investigator
  • Environmental Genomics
    NIH · T32ES013678 · Apr 30, 2005 – Jun 30, 2025 · Role: Principal Investigator
  • STATISTICAL APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF GXE INTERACTIONS
    NIH · R01ES010421 · May 1, 2000 – Apr 30, 2005 · Role: Principal Investigator
  • TRAINING MODULES FOR CLINICAL EPIDEMIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
    NIH · R43CA058240 · Sep 30, 1992 – May 31, 1993 · Role: Principal Investigator
  • PEDIGREE ANALYSIS USING GIBBS SAMPLING
    NIH · R43GM048326 · Sep 1, 1992 – Mar 31, 1993 · Role: Principal Investigator

Publications

  • Impact of the Ultra Low Emission Zone on lung function growth in children in London, UK: a prospective parallel cohort study. Lancet Public Health. 2026 Oct; 11(10):e733-e743.. View in PubMed
  • TGF-β Pathway-Based Polygenic Risk Score Modifies the Association between Red Meat Intake and Colorectal Cancer Risk: Application of a Novel Pathway-Based PRS Method. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2026 Jun 02; 35(6):973-986.. View in PubMed
  • Genetic Architecture of Perivascular Space Morphology in the Pediatric Brain. bioRxiv. 2026 May 21.. View in PubMed
  • From SNPs to pathways: a genome-wide benchmark of annotation discrepancies and their impact on protein- and pathway-level inference. BMC Genomics. 2026 Apr 06; 27(1).. View in PubMed
  • Discovery of gene-alcohol interaction loci influencing blood pressure in 1.1 million individuals from multiple populations. Res Sq. 2026 Apr 03.. View in PubMed
  • From SNPs to Pathways: A genome-wide benchmark of annotation discrepancies and their impact on protein- and pathway-level inference. bioRxiv. 2026 Mar 24.. View in PubMed
  • Effects of genetic risk for depression and household socioeconomic status on emotional behavior and brain development in early adolescence. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2026 Jun; 79:101692.. View in PubMed
  • Genetic risk factors modulate the association between physical activity and colorectal cancer. BMC Med. 2026 02 05; 24(1).. View in PubMed
  • Large-scale blood pressure GWAS accounting for gene-depression interactions in 564,680 individuals from diverse populations. HGG Adv. 2026 Apr 09; 7(2):100566.. View in PubMed
  • Susceptible windows of long-term childhood exposure to air pollution on adult self-reported bronchitic symptoms. Int J Epidemiol. 2026 Jan 02; 55(1).. View in PubMed