Tim Takaro

Associate Professor

Associate Dean, Research

Biography: 

Dr. Takaro is a physician-scientist from the University of Washington, Occupational and Environmental Medicine Program. His work is directed primarily toward determining if linkages exist between occupational or environmental exposures and disease and finding public health based preventive solutions where such hazards exist. Research interests are in gene-environment interactions in immunologically-based lung disease and fibrosis, indoor-air hazards, surveillance and field use of biomarkers for medical surveillance and risk assessment with mixed exposures. His practice includes nuclear weapons workers with beryllium and other pulmonary exposures, and children and adults with asthma and other chemically related illness. Additional interests include health effects of climate change, impacts of globalization on occupational and environmental health, biological effects of low-level radiation and mutagenic effects of pesticides.

Research Interests: 

Dr. Takaro’s primary research areas focus on disease susceptibility factors in environmental and occupational health, particularly inflammatory lung conditions, including asthma, chronic beryllium disease and asbestosis. His approach as a researcher and physician has been to try to link laboratory biomarker innovations with public health practice including community-based interventions.

Dr. Takaro is a member of research team, "The Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) birth cohort."

He also works at the Occupational & Environmental Medicine Clinic at Vancouver General Hospital.

Teaching Interests: 

Dr. Takaro teaches environmental and occupational health including population variability in susceptibility to environmental hazards, health effects of environmental change, mixed exposures, medical surveillance for occupational and environmental illness and globalization and occupational and environmental health.

Publications and Activities