Michael B. Bracken (born September 24, 1942) is an American 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. YSPH is both a department (established in 1915) within the school of medic ...

, 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 medical school of 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. It is the sixth-oldest m ...

. 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). Th ...

, 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. It means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available exte ...

.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.

Early life and education

Bracken was born on September 24, 1942, in

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, England. He attended the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

, St. Paul’s College in

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

, England, from 1962 to 1965. Upon graduation in 1965, he received his teaching certificate from the Ministry of Education. He earned his Bachelor's of Science with Special Honors in zoology from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

in 1968. The same year, he enrolled in the public health program at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

and in 1970 earned his Master of Public Health degree. He continued his studies at Yale University, and in 1971 completed his Master's 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 Kumasi Academy, also known as KUMACA, is a public, senior high school located in Asokore-Mampong, in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Asokore-Mampong is the capital of the Asokore Mampong Municipal Assembly and about from the central business distr ...

Kumasi Kumasi is a city and the capital of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly and the Ashanti Region of Ghana. It is the second largest city in the country, with a population of 443,981 as of the 2021 census. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

, 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 18 English-speaking countries and territories in t ...

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), 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 spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

, 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 with Branford being the ...

. 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 The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, 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 (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

, 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 Paraxanthine, also known as 1,7-dimethylxanthine, is an isomer of theophylline and theobromine, two well-known stimulants found in coffee, tea, and chocolate, mainly in the form of caffeine. It is a member of the xanthine family of alkaloids, ...

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 list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

, 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), known as 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, Engineerin ...

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 publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press 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 Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

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 The Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE) is a 501(c)3 non-profit institution patterned after the National Academy of Sciences to identify, study, and provide expert guidance on science and technological advancements that are or ...

, 1993 * Elected Governing Council of

, 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 ...

, 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 The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada () is a regulatory college which acts as a national, nonprofit organization established in 1929 by a special Act of Parliament to oversee the medical education of specialists in Canada. The ...

, Royal College Lecturer, 1997 *

American Public Health Association The American Public Health Association (APHA) is a Washington, D.C.–based professional membership and advocacy organization for public health professionals in the United States. APHA is the largest professional organization of public health pr ...

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 epidemio ...

, 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 The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, 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 The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is a professional association of physicians specializing in obstetrics and gynecology in the United States. Several Latin American countries are also represented within Districts of ...

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/news-events/robert-s-gordon-jr-lecture-epidemiology.

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 expatriate academics in the United States Alumni of the University of London Fellows of Green Templeton College, Oxford Academic staff of the University of the West Indies