Lawrence M Schell BA, MA, PhD, FAAAS

Distinguished Professor, Department of Anthropology, and Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY

  1. United States

Biography

Lawrence M. Schell is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department and in the Department of Anthropology at the University at Albany, State University of New York, and a Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Albany Medical College, Albany, NY. His research concerns the relationship of social factors to human prenatal and postnatal growth, and maturation particularly on the effects of pollutants disproportionately experienced by marginalized communities. He has conducted four major studies of pollutants and health. In 1992 he led a study of lead exposure and infant development among socioeconomically disadvantaged, mostly African American mothers and infants. In 1994 he began a research partnership with the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation living along the St. Lawrence River which was facing exposure to polychlorinated biphenyl pollution. Over the next twenty years his team conducted three studies with the Nation. Results from these studies pertain to the relationship of several pollutants to adolescent size (overweight and obesity), sexual maturation, thyroid function, and cognitive-behavioral status of 10–20-year-olds, as well as immune function and women’s reproductive health. The 25-year collaboration with the Mohawk is cited as a model of collaborative and respectful research between scientists and Native Americans. Beginning with the study of poor women in Albany, it was clear that exposure to pollutants in the US affects communities of color disproportionately and their health suffers. In 2005 he established the Center for the Elimination of Minority Health Disparities at the University at Albany, funded continuously by NIMHD and served as its director until 2021. From 2016- 2021 he executed a program of transdisciplinary training in minority health disparities research funded with a 10-million-dollar S21 award from NIH supplemented by a 1-million-dollar award from the Hearst Foundations. He continues as a professor and a consultant on the Croatian Island Birth Cohort Study and with the Bergen Growth Studies group. He has edited nine books, conference proceedings and special issues of journals, and published over 130 articles and chapters on growth, maturation, and health disparities. He has organized 21 conferences and symposia.

B.A. Oberlin College, in Sociology and Anthropology
M.A. Temple University in Anthropology (Biological)
Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania in Anthropology (Biological)

Recent Publications

  1. West CN, Gallo MV, Schell LM. Sex Differences in the association of measures of sexual maturation to common toxicants: Lead, dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT), dichloro-diphenyl-dichloroethylene (DDE), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Annals of Human Biology, 2021 48:6, 485-502, doi: 10.1080/03014460.2021.1998623

  2. Appleton AA, Kiley KC, Schell LM, Holdsworth E, Akinsanya A, Beecher C. Prenatal lead and depression exposures jointly influence birth outcomes and NR3C1 DNA methylation. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021 Nov 19;18(22):12169. doi: 10.3390/ijerph182212169.

  3. Schell LM, Gallo MV, Pfeiffer S, Lee F, Garry D, Yucel R and Akwesasne Task Force o the Environment. 2020. Trends in height, weight, BMI, skinfolds, and measures of overweight and obesity from 1979 through 1999 among American Indian Youth: The Akwesasne Mohawk. International Journal of Obesity. 2020 Mar; 44:656-663.International Journal of Obesity. 44:656-663. Doi: 10.1038/s41366-019-0349-5.

  4. Schell LM, Gallo MV, Deane G, Nelder N, Jacobs A, the Akewasasne Task Force on the Environment. 2014. Relationship of polychlorinated biphenyls, dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (p,p’-DDE) with testosterone levels in adolescent males. Environmental Health Perspectives 122(3): 304-309. DOI:10.1289/ehp.1205984

  5. Schell LM and Gallo MV. 2012. Overweight and obesity among North American Indian infants, children and youth. American Journal of Human Biology, 24:302-13. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.22257.

  6. Schell LM and Gallo MV. 2010. Relationships of putative endocrine disruptors to human sexual maturation and thyroid activity in youth. Physiology & Behavior, 99:246-253, (Epub Oct 2009). doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2009.09.015.

  7. Schell LM, Denham M, Stark AD, Parsons PJ, Schulte E. 2009. Growth of infants’ length, weight, head and arm circumferences in relation to low levels of blood lead measured serially. American Journal of Human Biology. 21(2): 180-18. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.20842.

  8. Schell LM, Gallo MV, Ravenscroft J, DeCaprio AP. 2009. Persistent organic pollutants and anti-thyroid peroxidase levels in Akwesasne Mohawk young adults. Environmental Research, 109: 86-92. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2008.08.015.

  9. Schell LM and Tarbell A. 1998. Commentary: A Partnership Study of PCBs and the Health of Mohawk Youth: Lessons from our Pasts, and Guidelines for our Future. Environmental Health Perspectives 106 (Suppl 3):833 840. doi: 10.1289/ehp.1205422.

  10. Schell LM and Ando Y. 1991. Postnatal growth of children in relation to noise from Osaka International Airport. J. Sound and Vibration, 151:371 382. doi: 10.1016/0022-460X(91)90534-Q.

Research Expertise

  • Growth and maturation in relation to toxicants

  • Growth and health of Native American youth

  • Health inequity: sources and effects