Dr Delfino's major research interests have been in understanding the effects of community air pollutants on respiratory health. After obtaining his M.D. at the University of Chicago in 1987, and internship at the Department of Internal Medicine, McGill University, he began PhD thesis work at McGill University with Dr. Margaret Becklake. He received his Ph.D. in epidemiology and biostatistics from McGill in 1993. Work at McGill focused on relationships of respiratory hospital admissions and of emergency room (ER) visits to outdoor air pollution levels in Montreal. He found temporal associations between respiratory ER visits among the elderly and summertime levels of ozone (O3) and particulate air pollutants well below U.S. air quality standards. He continues to contribute to this area of research by conducting panel studies in asthmatic populations in San Diego and Los Angeles Counties. This has involved following cohorts of asthmatics (panels) with daily repeated measures for 2-3 months using spirometers and daily diaries for reporting asthma symptoms, medication use, spatial location and physical activity. Several studies have involved detailed exposure assessments involving personal air monitoring systems that subjects carry with them during their daily activities. His studies were among the first panel studies to show associations of daily asthma severity in children with personal ozone exposure (1) and outdoor fungal spores (1-4). Other research results showed statistically significant associations between asthma symptoms in children and increases in daily outdoor 1-hr and 8-hr maximum PM10 (particulate matter, diameter less than 10µm) (3-4). These particle associations were largely independent of maximum hourly O3. Associations were notably greater among asthmatics not taking anti-inflammatory medications (3-4), consistent with suspected pro-inflammatory effects of ambient air pollutants. His findings are expected to help generate new research efforts to understand susceptibility to the adverse effects of air pollutants and to estimate effects of particulate air pollution using real-time or near real-time particle metrics. His new interest is in the role that urban air toxics play in adverse effects on asthma (5), COPD and cardiovascular disease that are otherwise attributed to routinely monitored pollutants such as PM10, O3 and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Dr Delfino's major research interests have been in understanding the effects of community air pollutants on respiratory health. After obtaining his M.D. at the University of Chicago in 1987, and internship at the Department of Internal Medicine, McGill University, he began PhD thesis work at McGill University with Dr. Margaret Becklake. He received his Ph.D. in epidemiology and biostatistics from McGill in 1993. Work at McGill focused on relationships of respiratory hospital admissions and of emergency room (ER) visits to outdoor air pollution levels in Montreal. He found temporal associations between respiratory ER visits among the elderly and summertime levels of ozone (O3) and particulate air pollutants well below U.S. air quality standards. He continues to contribute to this area of research by conducting panel studies in asthmatic populations in San Diego and Los Angeles Counties. This has involved following cohorts of asthmatics (panels) with daily repeated measures for 2-3 months using spirometers and daily diaries for reporting asthma symptoms, medication use, spatial location and physical activity. Several studies have involved detailed exposure assessments involving personal air monitoring systems that subjects carry with them during their daily activities. His studies were among the first panel studies to show associations of daily asthma severity in children with personal ozone exposure (1) and outdoor fungal spores (1-4). Other research results showed statistically significant associations between asthma symptoms in children and increases in daily outdoor 1-hr and 8-hr maximum PM10 (particulate matter, diameter less than 10µm) (3-4). These particle associations were largely independent of maximum hourly O3. Associations were notably greater among asthmatics not taking anti-inflammatory medications (3-4), consistent with suspected pro-inflammatory effects of ambient air pollutants. His findings are expected to help generate new research efforts to understand susceptibility to the adverse effects of air pollutants and to estimate effects of particulate air pollution using real-time or near real-time particle metrics. His new interest is in the role that urban air toxics play in adverse effects on asthma (5), COPD and cardiovascular disease that are otherwise attributed to routinely monitored pollutants such as PM10, O3 and nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

1. Delfino RJ, Coate B, Zeiger RS, Seltzer JM, Street DH, Koutrakis P. Daily asthma severity in relation to personal ozone exposure and outdoor fungal spores. Am J Respir Crit Care Med, 1996; 154:633-41.
2. Delfino RJ, Zeiger RS, Seltzer JM, Street DH, Matteucci RM, Anderson PR, Koutrakis P. The effect of outdoor fungal spore concentrations on asthma severity. Environ Health Perspect 1997; 105:622-35.
3. Delfino RJ, Zeiger RS, Seltzer JM, Street DH. Symptoms in pediatric asthmatics and air pollution: Differences in effects by symptom severity, anti-inflammatory medication use, and particulate averaging time. Environ Health Perspect, 1998; 106: 751-61.
4. Delfino RJ, Zeiger RS, Seltzer JM, Street DH, McLaren, C. Association of asthma symptoms with peak particulate air pollution and effect modification by anti-inflammatory medication use. Environ Health Perspect, 2002; 110:A607-A617.
5. Delfino RJ. Epidemiological evidence for asthma and exposure to air toxics: linkages between occupational, indoor, and community air pollution research. Environ Health Perspect, 2002 110(Suppl 4):573-589.