Our Study Team for The PEACH Study

Dr. Liew is an environmental and perinatal epidemiologist and a research methodologist. A core focus of his work is understanding how exposures that occur during critical and vulnerable periods of development may shape disease risks and influence health outcomes throughout our life span. Dr. Liew is leading numerous studies with funding from the NIH to evaluate whether fetal exposures to endocrine disrupting compounds and/or neurotoxicants could harm fetal brain development leading to neurological disorders or impaired neuropsychological function in childhood and young adulthood. He is also interested in methodological research, especially the development of novel study designs and analytical techniques that could help us better address biases in observational studies or research using “real-world” data.

Dr. Taylor is the Anita O'Keeffe Young Professor and Chair, Department of Obstetrics Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at Yale School of Medicine and Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He is also Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental biology at Yale University. His clinical interests include IVF, infertility, endometriosis, implantation, menopause, uterine anomalies and Asherman's syndrome. Dr. Hugh Taylor received his undergraduate training at Yale University and received his medical degree from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Yale. His postdoctoral training included a fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility as well as a fellowship in Molecular Biology, both at Yale. Dr. Taylor is a board certified specialist in Obstetrics and Gynecology and in Reproductive Endocrinology. His clinical research centers on endometriosis and fibroids. His basic science research focuses on uterine development, endometriosis, endocrine disruption, and on stem cells. He is a recipient of ten National Institutes of Health research grants and directs The Yale Center for Reproductive Biology. Dr. Taylor has published more than 400 articles and in leading medical journals.  He has served as president of the Society for Reproductive Investigation and president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in 2021.  He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Dr. Chock is a physician and clinical researcher investigating medication use and offspring outcomes amongst parents with rheumatic diseases. She has strong interests in reproductive rheumatology and utilizing large datasets to support her research. Dr. Chock completed her MD degree at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada.  She completed her residency at New York Presbyterian in Queens, New York.  Dr. Chock joined the Section of Rheumatology for her fellowship in 2016, she received her MPH degree from Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Mert Ozan Bahtiyar is a Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Bahtiyar is a graduate (‘94) of the Istanbul University, Turkey. He completed his residency training (‘02) and his Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship (‘04) at Yale University. Dr. Bahtiyar joined the Yale MFM Faculty in 2004. Dr. Bahtiyar’s primary research interest involves ultrasound, fetal echocardiography and invasive fetal therapy. He was part of the team, which performed, for the first time at Yale and State of Connecticut, in-utero laser therapy in pregnancies complicated by twin-twin transfusion. Team lead by Dr. Bahtiyar performed the first open in utero fetal spina bifida repair surgery. Dr. Bahtiyar is also an expert on abdominal cerclage. Dr. Bahtiyar is the 2010 recipient of one of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) Endowment for Education & Research grant aimed to identify the role of intra-uterine inflammation in altering the fetal heart function.

Andrew DeWan is a genetic epidemiologist with a focus on extending and applying analytical methods to identify genetic susceptibility variants for complex traits. A key theme throughout his work is applying a strategy of delineating narrowly defined phenotypes and stratification by ancestry to reduce heterogeneity and increase statistical power. To better elucidate the genetic architecture of complex traits, his research extends analytical methods to identify genetic interactions as well as pleiotropy. He has applied these genetic mapping methods across a number of diverse phenotypes including asthma, obesity, leukemia, pediatric lung cancer, preeclampsia, preterm birth, and bacterial bloodstream infections. He has been the Principal Investigator of external grants to fund his research (5 NIH grants, including three R01s). He is the Co-Director of the Yale Center for Perinatal, Pediatric and Environmental Epidemiology (CPPEE) which brings together diverse faculty with interests in the health of women and children through epidemiologic research investigating the impact of environmental, genetic and clinical factors on pregnancy, birth and childhood. He recently served a three-year term as a member of the Program Committee for the American Society of Human Genetics, the primary scientific organization for human geneticists worldwide. He has been able to incorporate his research interests through to his educational activities, teaching the course Genetic Concepts in Public Health, guest lecturing on genetic epidemiology and teaching at international courses for linkage and association analyses.

Keli Sorrentino has 25 years of experience working on public health field studies. Her background ranges from conducting interviews in the field to coordinating and supervising field work to all aspects of data management. She will support this project in several ways including field work design and data management.

Over the past two decades, Livia (Lia) has worked closely with multiple principal investigators, co-investigators, collaborators, research staff, students, post-doctoral associates, and business office personnel supporting complex grant and contract management processes. She has expertise in reviewing, submitting, and completing IRB applications, modifications, and continuing reviews for projects involving human subjects research, for both the Internal Review Board (IRB) at Yale and external IRBs in several States in the US. Her primary goal is to offer the highest level of support for faculty in their research projects to further Yale's mission to preserve as well as to add to the body of human knowledge and expand our understanding of complicated scientific questions while seeking out resources and pathways to find their answers.

Victoria McClare is currently a second-year Master of Public Health Student in the department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. She is interested in health disparities in maternal health and individuals with sickle disease. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2022 with a Bachelor of Science in Public Health.

A native of Worcester, Massachusetts, Cindy Nguyen is an undergraduate student at Yale College majoring in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and a Master's student at the Yale School of Public Health where she is passionate about learning how environmental factors can affect maternal health and child development. In her free time, she enjoys crocheting and biking with friends.

Yunyue Shi is currently a second-year Master of Public Health student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health. She is interested in researching environmental epidemiology, specifically the impact of air pollution and environmental factors on children's and maternal health, as well as understanding the disparities in exposures affecting vulnerable populations. She graduated from Xiamen University in 2021 with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science.

Jingyuan is a fourth-year PhD student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. She holds a master's degree in Social and Behavioral Sciences from YSPH and completed her undergraduate studies in Psychology at UC, San Diego. Her current research interests center around the early origins of neuropsychiatric disorders and possible transmission of disease risks across multiple generations due to adverse intrauterine exposures.