Robert O Wright, MD, MPH
- PROFESSOR AND SYSTEM CHAIR | Environmental Medicine & Public Health
- PROFESSOR | Pediatrics
Research Topics:
Biostatistics, Epigenetics
Robert O. Wright, MD, MPH, is a pediatrician, medical toxicologist, and environmental epidemiologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He is the Ethel H. Wise Chair of the Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Co-Director of the Institute for Exposomic Research, and Principal Investigator of an ongoing longitudinal birth cohort in Mexico City (Programming Research in Obesity, Growth, Environment and Social Stress--PROGRESS) in collaboration with the National Institute of Public Health, Mexico. He also founded the (Metals Assessment Targeting Community Health) MATCH study in Tar Creek, Oklahoma.
In September 2018, he joined the National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council (NAEHSC), a Congressionally mandated body that advises the secretary of Health and Human Services, the director of NIH, and the director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) on matters relating to the direction of research, research support, training, and career development supported by the NIEHS.
Dr. Wright studies chemical mixtures, social stressors as a modifier of chemical toxicity, and the role of genetics/epigenetics in modifying or mediating chemical toxicity. He is an international advocate for research on exposomics—the measure of all health relevant human exposure throughout the lifespan. He has published over 200 research studies and has served on numerous international and national committees and advisory boards. Dr. Wright founded the Senator Frank Lautenberg Laboratory of Environmental Health Sciences at Mount Sinai in 2014 and in 2020 launched the Laboratory for Innovation in Exposomic Precision Medicine. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School and completed residency in Pediatrics at Northwestern University, as well as the following fellowships: Emergency Medicine, (Brown University), Medical Toxicology (Harvard University), Environmental Epidemiology, (Harvard University) and Genetic Epidemiology (Harvard University). Finally, he also established the Mount Sinai Transdisciplinary Center on Early Environmental Exposures—a NIH funded Core Center grant program that provides infrastructure support to Mount Sinai environmental researchers.
Videos
Multi-Disciplinary Training Area
Neuroscience [NEU]Education
BS, University of Michigan-Dearborn
MD, University of Michigan
MPH, Harvard School of Public Health
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Young Investigator Award, Society for Academic Emergency Medicine -
Charlotte Promersberger Johnston Endowed Lectureship, Medical College of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Dr. Robert Wright’s research focuses on environmental factors which influence child health and neurodevelopment. He is specifically interested in chemical mixtures and exposomic approaches to study neurodevelopment and reproductive health. His research combines state of the art research techniques in both environmental health, exposure science, and epigenetic epidemiology. As an interdisciplinary scientist, he bridges the communication gap between these fields and is leading the design and conduct of sophisticated epidemiologic research in children’s environmental health. He has been the PI of multiple NIH RO1’s (R01 ES013744, R01ES020268, R01ES021357, R01ES026033) supporting epidemiologic cohort studies in Mexico City. He is the director and founder of the Mount Sinai P30 Core Center in Transdisciplinary Environmental Health Research and the Mount Sinai CHEAR (Child Health Exposure Analysis Resource) Lab Hub. Before joining Mount Sinai he directed an NIH funded Superfund Program Project grant (P42 ES016454). He founded and leads the Senator Frank Lautenberg Laboratory in Environmental Health Sciences and the newly established Mount Sinai Institute for Exposomic Research.
Physicians and scientists on the faculty of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai often interact with pharmaceutical, device and biotechnology companies to improve patient care, develop new therapies and achieve scientific breakthroughs. In order to promote an ethical and transparent environment for conducting research, providing clinical care and teaching, Mount Sinai requires that salaried faculty inform the School of their relationships with such companies.
Dr. Wright did not report having any of the following types of financial relationships with industry during 2022 and/or 2023: consulting, scientific advisory board, industry-sponsored lectures, service on Board of Directors, participation on industry-sponsored committees, equity ownership valued at greater than 5% of a publicly traded company or any value in a privately held company. Please note that this information may differ from information posted on corporate sites due to timing or classification differences.
Mount Sinai's faculty policies relating to faculty collaboration with industry are posted on our website. Patients may wish to ask their physician about the activities they perform for companies.