Thomas McElrath

I am PI on the LIFECODES birth cohort run by the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Division of the BWH. This is one of the largest prospectively collected biobanks for human pregnancy in North America. My personal research areas are divided into to primary interests:

1) The development of biomarkers to predict adverse pregnancy outcome. Specifically, my work involved the use of exosome associated proteins sampled at the beginning of gestation to predict the risk of spontaneous preterm birth in the third trimester.

2) The association between environmental exposures and pregnancy complication. Phthalate and other plasticizers are associated with a variety of adverse reproductive outcomes. Using the longitudinal samples and data available in the LIFECODES cohort, our group has been able to refine the effect of these exposures on the risk of preeclampsia, spontaneous preterm birth and intrauterine growth restriction.

Clinical Interests

• Cerclage
• Cervical Insufficiency/Incompetence
• Crohn's Disease Or Inflammatory Bowel Disease In Pregnancy
• Epilepsy Or Seizure Disorder In Pregnancy
• High-Risk Pregnancy
• Maternal-Fetal Medicine
• Multiple Births
• Multiple Pregnancies
• Pregnancy, History Of Prior Loss Or Infertility
• Preterm Labor

Education:

• Harvard Medical School, 1996, M.D.
• University of Pennsylvania, 1994, Ph.D.
• MD
• PhD

Honors/Awards:

• Fulbright Scholar
• Excellence in Teaching - Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics (APGO)
• Outstanding Teacher of Obstetrics - Brigham & Women's Department of OB/GYN
• Partners Service Award - Brigham & Women's Hospital
• Paper of the Year Award 2014 - National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
• Boston Magazine Top Physician 2017 – present
• Lab Members:
• David Cantonwine, Ph.D.

Publications

1. Darling AM, Werler MM, Cantonwine DE, Fawzi WW, McElrath TF. Timing and Amount of Gestational Weight Gain in Association with Adverse Birth Outcomes. Epidemiology. 2019 Sep; 30(5):695-705.

2. Margulis AV, Hernandez-Diaz S, McElrath T, Rothman KJ, Plana E, Almqvist C, D'Onofrio BM, Oberg AS. Relation of in-utero exposure to antiepileptic drugs to pregnancy duration and size at birth. PLoS One. 2019; 14(8):e0214180.

3. MacDonald SC, Cohen JM, Panchaud A, McElrath TF, Huybrechts KF, Hernández-Díaz S. Identifying pregnancies in insurance claims data: Methods and application to retinoid teratogenic surveillance. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2019 Jul 22.

4. Bromage S, Enkhmaa D, Baatar T, Garmaa G, Bradwin G, Yondonsambuu B, Sengee T, Jamts E, Suldsuren N, McElrath TF, Cantonwine DE, Hoover RN, Troisi R, Ganmaa D. Comparison of seasonal serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations among pregnant women in Mongolia and Boston. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2019 Jul 16; 193:105427.

5. Bommarito PA, Kim SS, Meeker JD, Fry RC, Cantonwine DE, McElrath TF, Ferguson KK. Urinary trace metals, maternal circulating angiogenic biomarkers, and preeclampsia: a single-contaminant and mixture-based approach. Environ Health. 2019 Jul 12; 18(1):63.

6. Ferguson KK, Lan Z, Yu Y, Mukherjee B, McElrath TF, Meeker JD. Urinary concentrations of phenols in association with biomarkers of oxidative stress in pregnancy: Assessment of effects independent of phthalates. Environ Int. 2019 Jul 06; 131:104903.

7. Sen S, Herlihy M, Hacker M, Mcelrath T, Cherkerzian S, Oken E, Meydani S. BMI-based Prenatal Vitamins to Ameliorate Oxidative Stress in Obese Pregnant Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial (P11-135-19). Curr Dev Nutr. 2019 Jun; 3(Suppl 1).

8. Ferguson KK, Rosario Z, McElrath TF, Vélez Vega C, Cordero JF, Alshawabkeh A, Meeker JD. Demographic risk factors for adverse birth outcomes in Puerto Rico in the PROTECT cohort. PLoS One. 2019; 14(6):e0217770.

9. Darling AM, Werler MM, Cantonwine DE, Fawzi WW, McElrath TF. Accuracy of a mixed effects model interpolation technique for the estimation of pregnancy weight values. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2019 Aug; 73(8):786-792.

10. De Tina A, Juang J, McElrath TF, Baty JD, Palanisamy A. Oxytocin and Oxytocinase in the Obese and Nonobese Parturients during Induction and Augmentation of Labor. AJP Rep. 2019 Apr; 9(2):e177-e184.