Jaymie Meliker, Ph.D.

Dr. Meliker’s research contributes to the fields of exposure science, health geography, and environmental epidemiology.  His scholarship falls into two lines of inquiry: (1) identifying environmental factors that play important roles in disease morbidity, and (2) developing space-time methods that improve our ability to investigate exposure-disease relationships. Highlights of his work include pioneering development of space-time information systems for lifetime exposure reconstruction, and epidemiology of low-level exposure to arsenic in drinking water. He has published on drinking water contaminants, air pollutants, arsenic, cadmium, asthma, osteoporosis, stroke, and different types of cancers, and enjoys tackling environmental epidemiologic and spatio-temporal methodological problems to advance population health.

Education:

Ph.D., Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health (2006)
Inter-Disciplinary Certificate in Spatial Analysis, University of Michigan (2003)
M.S., Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health (2001)
B.A., Neuroscience, Oberlin College (1996)

Academic Interests:

Environmental Health, Environmental Epidemiology, Human Exposure Assessment, Health Geography, Environmental Sustainability, Environmental Justice, Geographic Information Science, Chronic Disease Epidemiology, and History of Public Health

Associate Editor:

Environmental Health

2012-present. PLOSOne

2009-present. Spatial & Spatio-temporal Epidemiology

2011-present. Science of the Total Environment

2018-present. Toxics

Professional Memberships:

• International Society of Environmental Epidemiology
• International Society of Exposure Science, Society for Epidemiologic Research
• American Public Health Association
• American Association of Geographers

Selected Invited Presentations:

2016   USEPA: Temporal Exposure Issues for Environmental Pollutants: Health Effects and Methodologies for Eliminating Risks, RTP, NC

2015   ASTHO/CDC Expert Panel: Breast Cancer Mortality among African American Women, Atlanta, GA

2014   Gordon Research Conference, Oceans & Human Health, Biddeford, ME

2013   USEPA-NCEA  Arsenic Webinar Series

2013   US-NCI Survey Workshop: “Global and National Issues Shaping the Cancer Control Surveillance Landscape”, Division of Cancer Control & Population Sciences, Bethesda, MD

2008   14^th Danish Cancer Society Symposium, Advances in Epid Methods Session, Copenhagen, DK

2007   Plenary Session, Geospatial Technologies and Public Health Symposium at Texas A&M U

2006   UCGIS Workshop on Dynamics in Geographic Domains, Baltimore, MD

Selected Service Roles:

Grant Reviewer

 2018-2022       Standing Member, NIH IRAP Study Section -- Infectious, Reproductive, Asthma, and Pulmonary Conditions

Advisory Board Member

2016-2017       Invited Member, USEPA Chemical Safety Advisory Committee
2015-present   EPA Region 2 Environmental Justice, Technical Advisory Board on changes to the Suffolk County Administrative Code regarding existing on-site sewage disposal systems for residential properties.

Research Activities & Projects:

Environmental Epidemiology of Low-level Arsenic, Cadmium and Mercury Exposure
Identifying Biomarkers of Environmental Exposure
Methods for Improving Space-time Exposure Reconstruction
Methods for Incorporating Error in Exposure in Epidemiologic Analyses

Select Publications (out of 110):         View Dr. Meliker's Google Scholar profile here.

Sears CG, Healy EJ, Soares LF, Palermo D, Eliot M, Li Y, Fruh V, Babalola T, James KA, Harrington JM, Wellenius GA, Tjonneland A, Raaschou-Nielsen O, Meliker JR (2023). Urine Antimony and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease – a Prospective Case-Cohort Study in Danish Non-Smokers. Environment International. 181: 108269.

Levanti D, Monastero RN, Zamani M, Eichstadt JC, Giorgi S, Schwartz HA, Meliker JR (2023). Depression and anxiety on Twitter during the COVID-19 stay-at-home period in seven major US cities. AJPM Focus. 2(1): 100062.

Babalola T, Couch T, Donahoe M, Kidman R, Hammock R, Monastero R, Hanes D, Meliker J (2022). Domestic violence calls for police service in five US cities during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. BMC Public Health.

Clouston SAP, Morozova O, Meliker JR (2021). A wind speed threshold for increased outdoor transmission of SARS-CoV-2: An ecological study. BMC Infectious Diseases. 21:1194.

Poulsen AH, Sears CG, Harrington JM, Howe CJ, James KA, Roswall N, Overvad K, Tjønneland A, Wellenius GA, Meliker J, Raaschou-Nielsen (2021). Urine cadmium and stroke -  a case-cohort study in Danish never smokers. Environmental Research. 200:111394 [co-senior author, active in all phases]

Sears CG, Eliot M, Raaschou-Nielsen O, Poulsen AH, Harrington JM, Howe CJ, James KA, Roswall N, Overvad K, Tjønneland A, Meliker J, Wellenius GA (2021). Urinary cadmium and incident heart failure: A case–cohort analysis among never-smokers in Denmark. Epidemiology. 33(2):185-192.

Meliker JR, Vacchi-Suzzi C, Harrington J, Levine K, Lui L-Y, Bauer DC, Orwoll E, Kado DM (2019). Temporal stability of urinary cadmium in samples collected several years apart in a population of older persons. International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health. 222:230-234. 

Monastero RN, Vacchi-Suzzi C, Marsit C, Demple B, Meliker JR (2018). Expression of genes involved in stress, toxicity, inflammation, and autoimmunity in relation to cadmium, mercury, and lead in human blood: a pilot study. Toxics. 6(3), 35; doi: 10.3390/toxics6030035 [senior author, active in all phases, alongside postdoc, undergrad student]

Romeiser JL, Labriola J, Meliker JR (2018). Geographic patterns of prescription opioids and opioid overdose deaths in New York State, 2013-2015. Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Vacchi-Suzzi C, Kruse D, Harrington JM, Levine KE, Meliker JR (2017). Is urinary cadmium a biomarker of long-term exposure in humans? A review. Current Environmental Health Reports. 3:450-58.

Monastero R, Karimi R, Nyland J, Harrington J, Levine K, Meliker JR (2017). Mercury exposure, serum antinuclear antibodies, and serum cytokine levels in the Long Island Study of Seafood Consumption: A cross-sectional study in NY, USA. Environmental Research.156: 334-340. 

Eriksen KT, McElroy JA, Harrington J,  Levine KE, Pedersen C, Sørensen M, Tjønneland A, Meliker JR, Raaschou-Nielsen O (2017). Urinary cadmium and breast cancer: a prospective Danish cohort study. JNCI. 109(2):djw204. 

Karimi R, Silbernagel S, Fisher NS, Meliker JR (2014). Elevated blood Hg at recommended seafood consumption rates in adult seafood consumers. International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health. 217: 758-764. 

Sloan CD, Jacquez GM, Gallagher CM, Ward MH, Baastrup R, Raaschou-Nielsen, Meliker JR (2012). Performance of cancer cluster Q-statistics for case-control residential histories. Spatial & Spatio-Temporal Epidemiology. 3: 297-310. 

Jacquez GM, Slotnick MJ, Meliker JR, AvRuskin G, Copeland G, Nriagu J (2011). Accuracy of commercially available residential histories for epidemiologic studies. American Journal of Epidemiology.173: 236-243. 

*Gallagher CG, Smith DM, Meliker JR (2011). Total blood mercury and serum measles antibodies in US children, NHANES 2003-2004. Science of the Total Environment. 410-11: 65-71. 

Meliker JR, Slotnick MJ, AvRuskin GA, Schottenfeld D, Jacquez GM, Wilson ML, Goovaerts P, Franzblau A, Nriagu JO (2010). Lifetime exposure to arsenic in drinking water and bladder cancer: A population-based case-control study in Michigan. Cancer Causes and Control. 21: 745-757.

Meliker JR, Jacquez GM, Goovaerts P, AvRuskin GA, Copeland G (2009). Breast and prostate cancer survival in Michigan: Can geographic analyses assist in understanding racial disparities? Cancer. 115: 2212- 2221.

*Gallagher CM, Kovach JS, Meliker JR (2008). Urinary cadmium and osteoporosis in U.S. women age 50- 85, NHANES 1988-1994 and 1999-2004. Environmental Health Perspectives.116: 1338-1343. 

Meliker JR, Wahl RL, Cameron L, Nriagu JO (2007). Arsenic in drinking water and cerebrovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and kidney disease in Michigan: a standardized mortality ratio analysis. Environmental Health. 6: 4.

Meliker JR, Slotnick MJ, AvRuskin GA, Kaufmann A, Fedewa SA, Goovaerts P, Jacquez GM, Nriagu JO (2007). Individual lifetime exposure to inorganic arsenic using a Space-Time Information System. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health. 80: 184-197.

Meliker JR, Slotnick MJ, AvRuskin GA, Kaufmann A, Jacquez GM, Nriagu JO (2005). Improving exposure assessment in environmental epidemiology: Application of spatio-temporal visualization tools. Journal of Geographic Systems.7: 49-66.

Meliker JR, Maio RF, Zimmerman MA, Kim HM, Smith SC, Wilson ML (2004). Spatial analysis of alcohol-related motor vehicle crash injuries in southeastern Michigan. Accident Analysis and Prevention. 36: 1129-1135.

*Research/Student Assistant