William Gauderman, PhD

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.

• 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

• 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
• Genome-wide gene-sleep interaction study identifies novel lipid loci in 732,564 participants. Atherosclerosis. 2026 Jan; 412:120603.. View in PubMed
• Using gene-environment interactions to explore pathways for colorectal cancer risk. EBioMedicine. 2025 Nov; 121:105964.. View in PubMed
• Pathway-specific polygenic scores substantially increase the discovery of gene-adiposity interactions impacting liver biomarkers. HGG Adv. 2026 Jan 15; 7(1):100515.. View in PubMed
• Genetic risk factors modulate the association between physical activity and colorectal cancer. Res Sq. 2025 Sep 02.. View in PubMed
• Pathway polygenic risk scores (pPRS) for the analysis of gene-environment interaction. PLoS Genet. 2025 Aug; 21(8):e1011543.. View in PubMed
• Correction: Children’s Health in London and Luton (CHILL) cohort: a 12-month natural experimental study of the effects of the Ultra Low Emission Zone on children’s travel to school. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2025 Aug 05; 22(1):107.. View in PubMed
• Red meat intake interacts with a TGF-β-pathway-based polygenic risk score to impact colorectal cancer risk: Application of a novel approach for polygenic risk score construction. medRxiv. 2025 Jun 16.. View in PubMed
• Fine particulate matter air pollution and longitudinal gray matter development changes during early adolescence: variation by neighborhood disadvantage level. Environ Int. 2025 Jul; 201:109561.. View in PubMed
• Pathway-specific polygenic scores substantially increase the discovery of gene-adiposity interactions impacting liver biomarkers. medRxiv. 2025 May 21.. View in PubMed
• Effects of depression genetic risk and household socioeconomic status on emotional behavior and brain development in early adolescence. medRxiv. 2025 May 18.. View in PubMed
• Cohort Profile: The Children’s Health in London and Luton (CHILL) cohort. Int J Epidemiol. 2025 Apr 12; 54(3).. View in PubMed
• A large-scale genome-wide study of gene-sleep duration interactions for blood pressure in 811,405 individuals from diverse populations. Mol Psychiatry. 2025 Aug; 30(8):3660-3672.. View in PubMed
• Childhood Exposure to Air Pollution, Body Mass Index Trajectories, and Insulin Resistance Among Young Adults. JAMA Netw Open. 2025 04 01; 8(4):e256431.. View in PubMed
• Air Pollution Exposure, Prefrontal Connectivity, and Emotional Behavior in Early Adolescence. Res Rep Health Eff Inst. 2025 03.. View in PubMed
• A Large-Scale Genome-wide Association Study of Blood Pressure Accounting for Gene-Depressive Symptomatology Interactions in 564,680 Individuals from Diverse Populations. Res Sq. 2025 Feb 17.. View in PubMed
• The Influence of DNA Repair Genes and Prenatal Tobacco Exposure on Risk of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A Gene-Environment Interaction Study. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2025 Jan 09; 34(1):100-107.. View in PubMed
• Gene-Air Pollution Interaction and Diversity of Genetic Sampling: The Southern California Children’s Health Study. Genet Epidemiol. 2025 Jan; 49(1):e70000.. View in PubMed
• Pathway Polygenic Risk Scores (pPRS) for the Analysis of Gene-environment Interaction. bioRxiv. 2024 Dec 19.. View in PubMed
• Impact of childhood exposure to traffic related air pollution on adult cardiometabolic health: Exploring the role of perceived stress. Environ Res. 2024 Dec 15; 263(Pt 2):120130.. View in PubMed
• Genetic Variation and Regulation of MICA Alters Natural Killer Cell-Mediated Immunosurveillance in Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer. medRxiv. 2024 Sep 26.. View in PubMed
• Characterization of Additive Gene-environment Interactions For Colorectal Cancer Risk. Epidemiology. 2025 01 01; 36(1):126-138.. View in PubMed
• Children’s Health in London and Luton (CHILL) cohort: a 12-month natural experimental study of the effects of the Ultra Low Emission Zone on children’s travel to school. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2024 Sep 05; 21(1):89.. View in PubMed
• A Large-Scale Genome-Wide Gene-Sleep Interaction Study in 732,564 Participants Identifies Lipid Loci Explaining Sleep-Associated Lipid Disturbances. medRxiv. 2024 Sep 04.. View in PubMed
• Calcium intake and genetic variants in the calcium sensing receptor in relation to colorectal cancer mortality: an international consortium study of 18,952 patients. BJC Rep. 2024; 2(1):63.. View in PubMed
• Genome-Wide Interaction Analyses of Serum Calcium on Ventricular Repolarization Time in 125 393 Participants. J Am Heart Assoc. 2024 Sep 03; 13(17):e034760.. View in PubMed
• Carotid Artery Wall Echogenicity Measured by Gray Scale Median of the Intima-Media Complex From Childhood to Young Adulthood. J Am Heart Assoc. 2024 08 06; 13(15):e034821.. View in PubMed
• Exposure to multiple ambient air pollutants changes white matter microstructure during early adolescence with sex-specific differences. Commun Med (Lond). 2024 Aug 01; 4(1):155.. View in PubMed
• Association Between Cardiovascular Health and Subclinical Atherosclerosis Among Young Adults Using the American Heart Association’s “Life’s Essential 8” Metrics. J Am Heart Assoc. 2024 08 06; 13(15):e033990.. View in PubMed
• A Large-Scale Genome-Wide Study of Gene-Sleep Duration Interactions for Blood Pressure in 811,405 Individuals from Diverse Populations. Res Sq. 2024 Jul 17.. View in PubMed
• Two genome-wide interaction loci modify the association of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs with colorectal cancer. Sci Adv. 2024 05 31; 10(22):eadk3121.. View in PubMed
• Author Correction: Trans-ancestral genome-wide association study of longitudinal pubertal height growth and shared heritability with adult health outcomes. Genome Biol. 2024 May 21; 25(1):129.. View in PubMed
• Genome-wide interaction study of dietary intake of fibre, fruits, and vegetables with risk of colorectal cancer. EBioMedicine. 2024 Jun; 104:105146.. View in PubMed
• Does socioeconomic and environmental burden affect vulnerability to extreme air pollution and heat? A case-crossover study of mortality in California. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2025 Apr; 35(2):294-302.. View in PubMed
• Fine-mapping analysis including over 254,000 East Asian and European descendants identifies 136 putative colorectal cancer susceptibility genes. Nat Commun. 2024 Apr 26; 15(1):3557.. View in PubMed
• An approach to identify gene-environment interactions and reveal new biological insight in complex traits. Nat Commun. 2024 Apr 22; 15(1):3385.. View in PubMed
• Genetic risk impacts the association of menopausal hormone therapy with colorectal cancer risk. Br J Cancer. 2024 06; 130(10):1687-1696.. View in PubMed
• Genome-Wide Gene-Environment Interaction Analyses to Understand the Relationship between Red Meat and Processed Meat Intake and Colorectal Cancer Risk. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2024 03 01; 33(3):400-410.. View in PubMed
• Perceived Stress From Childhood to Adulthood and Cardiometabolic End Points in Young Adulthood: An 18-Year Prospective Study. J Am Heart Assoc. 2024 02 06; 13(3):e030741.. View in PubMed
• Trans-ancestral genome-wide association study of longitudinal pubertal height growth and shared heritability with adult health outcomes. Genome Biol. 2024 01 16; 25(1):22.. View in PubMed
• Genome-Wide Interaction Analysis With DASH Diet Score Identified Novel Loci for Systolic Blood Pressure. Hypertension. 2024 Mar; 81(3):552-560.. View in PubMed
• Gene-Environment Analyses Reveal Novel Genetic Candidates with Prenatal Tobacco Exposure in Relation to Risk for Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2023 12 01; 32(12):1707-1715.. View in PubMed
• Genome-Wide Interaction Analysis with DASH Diet Score Identified Novel Loci for Systolic Blood Pressure. medRxiv. 2023 Nov 11.. View in PubMed
• Investigating the impact of London’s ultra low emission zone on children’s health: children’s health in London and Luton (CHILL) protocol for a prospective parallel cohort study. BMC Pediatr. 2023 11 04; 23(1):556.. View in PubMed
• Air pollution and age-dependent changes in emotional behavior across early adolescence in the U.S. Environ Res. 2024 01 01; 240(Pt 1):117390.. View in PubMed
• A new Approach to Identify Gene-Environment Interactions and Reveal New Biological Insight in Complex traits. Res Sq. 2023 Oct 05.. View in PubMed
• Author Correction: Multi-ancestry genome-wide association analyses improve resolution of genes and pathways influencing lung function and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease risk. Nat Genet. 2023 Oct; 55(10):1778-1779.. View in PubMed
• Prenatal ambient air pollution exposure and child weight trajectories from the 3rd trimester of pregnancy to 2 years of age: a cohort study. BMC Med. 2023 09 07; 21(1):341.. View in PubMed
• Genome-wide interaction analysis of folate for colorectal cancer risk. Am J Clin Nutr. 2023 11; 118(5):881-891.. View in PubMed
• Sex-specific effects in how childhood exposures to multiple ambient air pollutants affect white matter microstructure development across early adolescence. Res Sq. 2023 Aug 17.. View in PubMed
• A Genetic Locus within the FMN1/GREM1 Gene Region Interacts with Body Mass Index in Colorectal Cancer Risk. Cancer Res. 2023 08 01; 83(15):2572-2583.. View in PubMed
• A note on p-value multiple-testing adjustment for two-step genome-wide gene-environment interactions scans. medRxiv. 2023 Jun 28.. View in PubMed
• Probing the diabetes and colorectal cancer relationship using gene – environment interaction analyses. Br J Cancer. 2023 08; 129(3):511-520.. View in PubMed
• The genetic determinants of recurrent somatic mutations in 43,693 blood genomes. Sci Adv. 2023 04 28; 9(17):eabm4945.. View in PubMed
• Air pollution and emotional behavior in adolescents across the U.S. medRxiv. 2023 Apr 25.. View in PubMed
• Longitudinal hierarchical Bayesian models of covariate effects on airway and alveolar nitric oxide. Sci Rep. 2023 04 01; 13(1):5346.. View in PubMed
• Multi-ancestry genome-wide association analyses improve resolution of genes and pathways influencing lung function and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease risk. Nat Genet. 2023 03; 55(3):410-422.. View in PubMed
• Genome-wide Interaction Study with Smoking for Colorectal Cancer Risk Identifies Novel Genetic Loci Related to Tumor Suppression, Inflammation, and Immune Response. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2023 03 06; 32(3):315-328.. View in PubMed
• Author Correction: Deciphering colorectal cancer genetics through multi-omic analysis of 100,204 cases and 154,587 controls of European and east Asian ancestries. Nat Genet. 2023 Mar; 55(3):519-520.. View in PubMed
• Ambient temperature and air pollution associations with suicide and homicide mortality in California: A statewide case-crossover study. Sci Total Environ. 2023 May 20; 874:162462.. View in PubMed
• Improved two-step testing of genome-wide gene-environment interactions. Genet Epidemiol. 2023 03; 47(2):152-166.. View in PubMed
• Deciphering colorectal cancer genetics through multi-omic analysis of 100,204 cases and 154,587 controls of European and east Asian ancestries. Nat Genet. 2023 01; 55(1):89-99.. View in PubMed
• Multi-omics insights into the biological mechanisms underlying statistical gene-by-lifestyle interactions with smoking and alcohol consumption. Front Genet. 2022; 13:954713.. View in PubMed
• Differences in Self-Reported Food Allergy and Food-Associated Anaphylaxis by Race and Ethnicity Among SAPPHIRE Cohort Participants. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2023 04; 11(4):1123-1133.e11.. View in PubMed
• Correction: Childhood traffic-related air pollution and adverse changes in subclinical atherosclerosis measures from childhood to adulthood. Environ Health. 2022 Nov 16; 21(1):110.. View in PubMed
• Interactions between folate intake and genetic predictors of gene expression levels associated with colorectal cancer risk. Sci Rep. 2022 11 07; 12(1):18852.. View in PubMed
• Transcriptomic Response to Calcium in Normal Colon Organoids is Impacted by Colon Location and Sex. Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2022 10 04; 15(10):679-688.. View in PubMed
• Genome-Wide Interaction Analysis of Genetic Variants With Menopausal Hormone Therapy for Colorectal Cancer Risk. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2022 08 08; 114(8):1135-1148.. View in PubMed
• Beyond GWAS of Colorectal Cancer: Evidence of Interaction with Alcohol Consumption and Putative Causal Variant for the 10q24.2 Region. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2022 05 04; 31(5):1077-1089.. View in PubMed
• A scalable hierarchical lasso for gene-environment interactions. J Comput Graph Stat. 2022; 31(4):1091-1103.. View in PubMed
• Gene-lifestyle interactions in the genomics of human complex traits. Eur J Hum Genet. 2022 06; 30(6):730-739.. View in PubMed
• Two-step hypothesis testing to detect gene-environment interactions in a genome-wide scan with a survival endpoint. Stat Med. 2022 04 30; 41(9):1644-1657.. View in PubMed
• Hierarchical Bayesian estimation of covariate effects on airway and alveolar nitric oxide. Sci Rep. 2021 08 25; 11(1):17180.. View in PubMed
• Increased burden of familial-associated early-onset cancer risk among minority Americans compared to non-Latino Whites. Elife. 2021 06 22; 10.. View in PubMed
• Multi-ancestry genome-wide gene-sleep interactions identify novel loci for blood pressure. Mol Psychiatry. 2021 11; 26(11):6293-6304.. View in PubMed
• Childhood traffic-related air pollution and adverse changes in subclinical atherosclerosis measures from childhood to adulthood. Environ Health. 2021 04 14; 20(1):44.. View in PubMed
• A two-step approach to testing overall effect of gene-environment interaction for multiple phenotypes. Bioinformatics. 2021 Apr 05; 36(24):5640-5648.. View in PubMed
• Genetic architectures of proximal and distal colorectal cancer are partly distinct. Gut. 2021 07; 70(7):1325-1334.. View in PubMed
• Mapping the 17q12-21.1 Locus for Variants Associated with Early-Onset Asthma in African Americans. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2021 02 15; 203(4):424-436.. View in PubMed
• Asthma and its relationship to mitochondrial copy number: Results from the Asthma Translational Genomics Collaborative (ATGC) of the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program. PLoS One. 2020; 15(11):e0242364.. View in PubMed
• Multi-Ancestry Genome-wide Association Study Accounting for Gene-Psychosocial Factor Interactions Identifies Novel Loci for Blood Pressure Traits. HGG Adv. 2021 Jan 14; 2(1).. View in PubMed
• A Cross-Sectional Study Examining the Seroprevalence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Antibodies in a University Student Population. J Adolesc Health. 2020 12; 67(6):763-768.. View in PubMed
• Pediatric glioma and medulloblastoma risk and population demographics: a Poisson regression analysis. Neurooncol Adv. 2020 Jan-Dec; 2(1):vdaa089.. View in PubMed
• Gene-educational attainment interactions in a multi-ancestry genome-wide meta-analysis identify novel blood pressure loci. Mol Psychiatry. 2021 Jun; 26(6):2111-2125.. View in PubMed
• Functional informed genome-wide interaction analysis of body mass index, diabetes and colorectal cancer risk. Cancer Med. 2020 05; 9(10):3563-3573.. View in PubMed
• The Potential Effects of Policy-driven Air Pollution Interventions on Childhood Lung Development. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2020 02 15; 201(4):438-444.. View in PubMed
• A genome-wide association study on medulloblastoma. J Neurooncol. 2020 Apr; 147(2):309-315.. View in PubMed
• Multi-ancestry sleep-by-SNP interaction analysis in 126,926 individuals reveals lipid loci stratified by sleep duration. Nat Commun. 2019 Nov 12; 10(1):5121.. View in PubMed
• A trans-ancestral meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies reveals loci associated with childhood obesity. Hum Mol Genet. 2019 10 01; 28(19):3327-3338.. View in PubMed
• Immune factors preceding diagnosis of glioma: a Prostate Lung Colorectal Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial nested case-control study. Neurooncol Adv. 2019 May-Dec; 1(1):vdz031.. View in PubMed
• A multi-ancestry genome-wide study incorporating gene-smoking interactions identifies multiple new loci for pulse pressure and mean arterial pressure. Hum Mol Genet. 2019 Aug 01; 28(15):2615-2633.. View in PubMed
• Multiancestry Genome-Wide Association Study of Lipid Levels Incorporating Gene-Alcohol Interactions. Am J Epidemiol. 2019 Jun 01; 188(6):1033-1054.. View in PubMed

• Peters, Anne
• Haiman, Christopher
• Lenz, Heinz-Josef
• McConnell, Rob
• Chen, Jiu-Chiuan
• Habre, Rima