Max M Aung, PhD, MPH

Dr. Max Aung is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Environmental Health at the University of Southern California. Dr. Aung is an alumnus of the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice Fellowship as well as the RWJF Health Policy Research Scholars Fellowship. His research focuses on applying data science frameworks to understand potential mechanisms linking chemical mixtures to health across the life course and pursue environmental justice. He specifically integrates multiple hierarchies of exogenous and endogenous biomarkers, including biomonitored toxicant exposures, targeted bioactive lipids, and untargeted lipidomics and metabolomics. His current funded projects focus on integrating these biomarkers in diverse prospective cohorts to better understand mechanisms linking the human exposome to maternal health outcomes, child neurodevelopment, and mental health.

• Harvard University: JPB Environmental Health Fellowship, 2022-2025
• Johns Hopkins University: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholars Fellowship, 2016-2019

• Exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and alterations in plasma microRNA profiles in children Environ Res. 2024 Oct 15; 259:119496. . View in PubMed
• Metabolic Perturbations Associated with both PFAS Exposure and Perinatal/Antenatal Depression in Pregnant Individuals: A Meet-in-the-Middle Scoping Review Curr Environ Health Rep. 2024 Sep; 11(3):404-415. . View in PubMed
• PFHpA alters lipid metabolism and increases the risk of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease in youth-a translational research framework medRxiv. 2024 Jul 03. . View in PubMed
• Statistical methods for chemical mixtures: a roadmap for practitioners medRxiv. 2024 Mar 04. . View in PubMed
• Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, polychlorinated biphenyls, organochlorine pesticides, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers and dysregulation of MicroRNA expression in humans and animals-A systematic review Environ Res. 2024 Mar 01; 244:117832. . View in PubMed
• Prenatal exposures to organophosphate ester metabolite mixtures and children’s neurobehavioral outcomes in the MADRES pregnancy cohort Environ Health. 2023 09 22; 22(1):66. . View in PubMed
• Evaluation of pediatric epigenetic clocks across multiple tissues Clin Epigenetics. 2023 09 02; 15(1):142. . View in PubMed
• Exploratory profiles of phenols, parabens, and per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances among NHANES study participants in association with previous cancer diagnoses J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2023 09; 33(5):687-698. . View in PubMed
• Urinary oxidative stress biomarkers are associated with preterm birth: an Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes program studyAm J Obstet Gynecol. 2023 05; 228(5):576. e1-576. e22. . View in PubMed
• Examining the association between prenatal maternal stress and infant non-nutritive suck Pediatr Res. 2023 04; 93(5):1285-1293. . View in PubMed
• Maternal per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances exposures associated with higher depressive symptom scores among immigrant women in the Chemicals in Our Bodies cohort in San Francisco Environ Int. 2023 02; 172:107758. . View in PubMed
• Associations between social, biologic, and behavioral factors and biomarkers of oxidative stress during pregnancy: Findings from four ECHO cohorts Sci Total Environ. 2022 Aug 20; 835:155596. . View in PubMed
• Prenatal PFAS and psychosocial stress exposures in relation to fetal growth in two pregnancy cohorts: Applying environmental mixture methods to chemical and non-chemical stressors Environ Int. 2022 05; 163:107238. . View in PubMed
• Maternal blood metal concentrations and whole blood DNA methylation during pregnancy in the Early Autism Risk Longitudinal Investigation (EARLI) Epigenetics. 2022 03; 17(3):253-268. . View in PubMed
• Bayesian Sparse Mediation Analysis with Targeted Penalization of Natural Indirect Effects J R Stat Soc Ser C Appl Stat. 2021 Nov; 70(5):1391-1412. . View in PubMed
• Maternal lipidomic signatures in relation to spontaneous preterm birth and large-for-gestational age neonates Sci Rep. 2021 04 14; 11(1):8115. . View in PubMed
• Cross-Sectional Estimation of Endogenous Biomarker Associations with Prenatal Phenols, Phthalates, Metals, and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Single-Pollutant and Mixtures Analysis Approaches Environ Health Perspect. 2021 03; 129(3):37007. . View in PubMed
• Application of an analytical framework for multivariate mediation analysis of environmental data Nat Commun. 2020 11 06; 11(1):5624. . View in PubMed
• Prediction and associations of preterm birth and its subtypes with eicosanoid enzymatic pathways and inflammatory markers Sci Rep. 2019 11 19; 9(1):17049. . View in PubMed
• Urinary trace metals individually and in mixtures in association with preterm birth Environ Int. 2018 12; 121(Pt 1):582-590. . View in PubMed

• Chatzi, Vaia
• Breton, Carrie
• Gilliland, Frank
• Farzan, Shohreh
• Chmait, Ramen
• Matsuo, Koji
• Conti, David
• Goodrich, Jesse
• McConnell, Rob
• Hu, Howard
• Eckel, Sandrah
• Peters, Anne