Michael B. Bracken, Ph.D., M.Phil., M.P.H., (born September 24, 1942) is a perinatal epidemiologist.Yale School of Public Health. Profile: Michael B. Bracken PhD, MPH, FACE. New Haven, Connecticut; 2015 (Accessed 2015 March 31); Available from: http://publichealth.yale.edu/people/michael_bracken.profile He is the Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Epidemiology at the

Yale School of Public Health The Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) was founded in 1915 by Charles-Edward Amory Winslow and is one of the oldest public health masters programs in the United States. It is consistently rated among the best schools of public health in the cou ...

, and Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, and Professor of Neurology at the

Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. The primary te ...

. He is co-director of the Yale Center for Perinatal, Pediatric and Environmental Epidemiology.Yale Center for Perinatal, Pediatric and Environmental Epidemiology. Faculty & Affiliates. New Haven, Connecticut; 2015 (Accessed 2015 May 27); Available from: http://www.yale.edu/cppee/CenterFaculty&Affiliates.html Bracken has authored some 400 articles, correspondence and book chapters, and 3 books concentrating on the perinatal discipline, obstetrics and gynecology,

neonatology Neonatology is a subspecialty of pediatrics that consists of the medical care of newborn infants, especially the ill or premature newborn. It is a hospital-based specialty, and is usually practised in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). The ...

, neurology, and

evidence-based medicine Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is "the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients". The aim of EBM is to integrate the experience of the clinician, the values of t ...

.Michael B. Bracken, Curriculum Vitae. New Haven, Connecticut; 2015 (Accessed 2015 July 17); Available from: http://www.yale.edu/cppee/documents/MBrackenCurriculumVitae.pdf His publications focus on various topics from smoking, alcohol, nutrition, and caffeine to preterm and low birth weight newborns, electromagnetic fields, birth defects, and asthma. He is the former Head of Chronic Disease Epidemiology and former Vice Chairman (Deputy Dean) of the

where he has studied, taught, and conducted research since 1968.

Personal background

Michael B. Bracken was born on September 24, 1942, in

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, England. He attended the

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

, St. Paul’s College in

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

, England, from 1962 to 1965. Upon graduation in 1965, he received his teaching certificate from the Ministry of Education. From the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

he earned his Bachelors of Science with Special Honors in Zoology in 1968. The same year, he enrolled in the public health program at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

and in 1970 earned his Master of Public Health degree. He continued his studies at

, and in 1971 completed his Masters in Philosophy and in 1974 earned his Ph.D. in epidemiology.

Academia

Career

Bracken’s early teaching career began in 1965 with a position in the Kumasi Academy in

Kumasi Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is the ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, sponsored by the British Voluntary Service Overseas. After returning to England in 1966, he obtained a teaching position through the London Education Authority for a two-year term. He enrolled in the public health program at

in 1968 and while still completing his studies, in 1971 he joined the faculty as a Research Associate in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Yale University School of Medicine. From 1973 to 1980, Bracken was appointed Research Associate and Lecturer in Epidemiology and Public Health in the then Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at

. In 1977, he became the Director of the National Acute Spinal Cord Injury Study, and continued in that role until 2001. In 1969, he joined the Faculty of Medicine at the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in th ...

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

, as a visiting lecturer in social medicine and epidemiology. During his time in Jamaica, he conducted research in family planning. In 1979, Bracken established and directed the Yale Perinatal Epidemiology Unit. In 1980, he became Senior Research Associate and Lecturer in two departments at the Yale medical school - Epidemiology, and Obstetrics and Gynecology. He was appointed Associate Professor in 1983 and full tenured Professor in 1986 with teaching responsibilities in both fields of medicine. In 1991, he was appointed professor jointly in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health and the Graduate School at

. His academic career continued to expand in 1991 to include administrative roles when he became Vice Chairman (Deputy Dean of Public Health) of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health. He became Head of the Division of Chronic Disease Epidemiology in 1995. In recognition of his interdisciplinary research activities in spinal cord injury, he became professor in the Department of Neurology in 1997 at the

. From 2001, he was appointed fellow of one of Yale’s residential colleges,

Branford College Branford College is one of the 14 residential colleges at Yale University. Founding Branford College was founded in 1933 by partitioning the Memorial Quadrangle (built in 1917-21) into two parts: Saybrook and Branford. According to Robert Frost ...

. Bracken was named Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Epidemiology at Yale in 2001. In 2002, the Yale Perinatal Epidemiology Unit became the Yale Center for Perinatal, Pediatric and Environmental Epidemiology. The change of title reflected the incorporation of research projects focusing on environmental health as well as collaboration with faculty from other epidemiologic disciplines. Since 2002, Bracken has shared co-directorship of the Center with Brian P. Leaderer, Professor of Epidemiology in the Environmental Health Sciences and Deputy Dean at the

. From 2005 to 2008 Bracken was Research Fellow of Green College at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, and in 2008, he was appointed Research Fellow of renamed Green Templeton College at the University of Oxford. In 2013, he was Director of Graduate Studies at the

. Bracken has taught courses in perinatal epidemiology, pharmaco-epidemiology, and evidence-based medicine and health care at

Research interests

Primarily from the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

, Bracken has received over 20 grant and contract awards totaling some $60 million. Among his funded projects, he has studied electromagnetic fields, acid aerosols and respiration, caffeine and coffee, asthma severity and medication, and paraxanthine in relation to pregnancy, newborns and infants. His more recent projects have involved air quality and children with asthma and susceptibility genes for childhood asthma.

Consulting

Bracken has consulted for the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

, international corporations and agencies on various health related issues, evidence-based medicine, and epidemiology. He has served on a number of study sections and committees for the National Institutes of Health including the Council of the National Institute of Deafness and Communicative Disorders, Epidemiology and Disease Control Study Section, and the Expert Panel on Genes and Environment. He has also participated in advising the

Institute of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, E ...

on special panels.

Books

His first book titled ''Perinatal Epidemiology,''Bracken MB. ''Perinatal epidemiology.'' New York: Oxford University Press; 1984. published in 1984 by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, was one of the earliest compilations of in-depth investigations and research methods in the modern field of perinatology.Yale School of Public Health. Michael B. Bracken PhD, MPH, FACE, Research Publications. 2015 (Accessed 2015 May 6); Available from: http://publichealth.yale.edu/people/michael_bracken-2.profile. Bracken co-edited his second book titled ''Effective Care of the Newborn Infant''Sinclair JC, Bracken MB. ''Effective care of the newborn infant.'' Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press; 1992. . with John C. Sinclair published in 1992 by

. The book focuses on interventions in neonatal care and the use of statistical methods, systematic research, and clinical trials for informing health care providers. The book served as a key cornerstone in the foundation of the international Cochrane Collaboration and was named as one of the most influential books in evidence-based medicine by ''The British Medical Journal.'' His most recent book ''Risk, Chance, and Causation: Investigating the Origins and Treatment of Disease''Bracken MB
''Risk, chance, and causation: investigating the origins and treatment of disease.''
New Haven: Yale University Press; 2013. . was published by

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

in the summer of 2013 and received honorable mention by the American Publishers Award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence PROSE and the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title in the Health Sciences Category in 2013. Written for a broad audience, the book provides an overview of the field of epidemiology and evidence-based medicine. * Bracken MB. ''Perinatal epidemiology.'' New York:

; 1984. . * Sinclair JC, Bracken MB. ''Effective care of the newborn infant.'' Oxford; New York:

; 1992. . * Bracken MB. ''Risk, chance, and causation: investigating the origins and treatment of disease.'' New Haven:

; 2013. .

Awards and honours

* Rockefeller Scholar at Bellagio, 1989 * National Rehabilitation Week Research Award, 1990Michael Bracken appointed to Bliss Professorship in Public Health
Yale Bulletin & Calendar, Sept 14, 2001, Vol 30, No. 2.
(Accessed 2015 July 17) Available from: http://www.yale.edu/opa/arc-ybc/v30.n2/story8.html. * Wakeman Award for Neuroscience Research, 1990 * National Spinal Cord Injury Association, L.W. Freeman Award, 1992 * The Society of Authors (London) Glaxo Prize for Medical Writing, finalist, 1992 * Elected Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, 1993 * Elected Governing Council of Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, 1995 * President,

American College of Epidemiology The American College of Epidemiology (ACE) is an American organization incorporated in 1979 to support and promote the work of American epidemiologists. It is based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Members of the American College of Epidemiology are p ...

, 1996-97American College of Epidemiology
Past Presidents, 1982 to present.
2016 (Accessed 2016 September 1). Available from: https://acepidemiology.org/ACE/About/Leadership/Past_Presidents/ACE/Past_Presidents.aspx?hkey=f93715ed-c2c7-4f33-8885-2c2d6f137d9f. * Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Royal College Lecturer, 1997 *

, American Public Health Association,

Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics The Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics (CSEB), or Société Canadienne d'épidémiologie et de biostatistique (SCEB), was founded in 1990 to promote epidemiology and biostatistics research in Canada; encourage the use of epidemi ...

, Society for Epidemiologic Research Combined Special Award "for vision, outstanding leadership and dedication as convener of the 2001 Congress of Epidemiology," 2001 * Susan Dwight Bliss Professor,

, 2001 * Elected Research Fellow, Green College,

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, 2005 * President, Society for Epidemiologic Research, 2006-2007Society for Epidemiologic Research
Past Presidents, 1968 to present.
2016 (Accessed 2016 September 1). Available from: https://epiresearch.org/about-us/history/past-presidents/. * Roy M. Pitkin Award from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists for best paper in Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2009 * American College of Epidemiology Abraham Lilienfeld Award "For excellence in the field of epidemiology. The highest honor the College bestows," 2013 * The American Publishers Award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence PROSE, Honorable Mention, 2013The American Publishers Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence. 2013 Winners, Economics Category, Honorable Mention.
Accessed 2016 September 1); Available from: https://proseawards.com/winners/2013-award-winners/. * D.Sc honoris causa, University Gloucestershire, UK, 2015 * Gordon Lecture Award, National Institutes of Health, 2016National Institutes of Health, Office of Disease Prevention. Gordon Lecture in Epidemiology, 2016 Award Winner, Michael B. Bracken, Ph.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.E., April 20, 2016 (Accessed 2016 September 1); Available from: https://prevention.nih.gov/programs-events/gordon-lecture-series.

References

External links

Michael B. Bracken profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bracken, Michael B. 1942 births Yale University faculty Scientists from Bradford Yale School of Public Health alumni American health and wellness writers American epidemiologists Alumni of the University of Bristol Living people British expatriates in the United States Alumni of the University of London Fellows of Green Templeton College, Oxford University of the West Indies academics