Draft:Carmen Messerlian

Dr. Carmen Messerlian is an American epidemiologist and a distinguished researcher, scholar, and public health advocate She currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Environmental Reproductive, Perinatal, and Pediatric Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She also holds positions as a Faculty Investigator in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and an Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology in the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University.

Education
Dr. Messerlian received her B.Sc. in Nursing from McGill University in 1998. She further pursued her education, obtaining her M.Sc. in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2000. In 2014, she completed her Ph.D. in Epidemiology from McGill University. Dr. Messerlian received postdoctoral training as a fellow and research scientist in the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health between 2014 and 2019.

Career
Dr. Messerlian's professional career encompasses various roles, including working as a pediatric nurse at the Montreal Children's Hospital and as a public health consultant in Canada and the United States. She has been recognized for her scientific contributions with numerous fellowships and awards from institutions such as McGill University, the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Currently, her research is funded by grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Research
Dr. Messerlian’s research primarily focuses on how the natural, built, and social environments impact male and female fertility, pregnancy, and child health across the reproductive lifecourse. She is a strong advocate for considering the role of male partners in supporting women’s health and fertility, emphasizing the need for a holistic, couple-centered approach in reproductive medicine. Her research findings have identified connections between exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals, such as phthalates and phenols, and various markers of impaired fertility and reproductive health, including preterm birth, birth size, and semen quality.

Dr. Messerlian is the founder and director of the Scientific Early Life Environmental Health & Development (SEED) research program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Through collaborations with the Massachusetts General Hospital, the Boston IVF Fertility Clinic, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the SEED Program generates research and educational materials that explore the influence of the environment on fertility, pregnancy, and child and adolescent health.

Vie – The Art & Science of Baby Making
In 2023, Dr. Messerlian founded Vie – The Art & Science of Baby Making, a digital therapeutic that leverages big data and artificial intelligence (AI) to personalize fertility prevention, care, and treatment of couples attempting to conceive. Vie uses scientific research and individual user data to prioritize the holistic health of couples and encourages them to enhance their overall well-being during natural conception or while undergoing medical fertility interventions. Vie’s mission is to provide an affordable and scalable population-based fertility solution that aims to democratize care across barriers characterized by gender, socio-economic status, education, race, and financial resources.

Outreach
Dr. Messerlian is engaged in policy action on state and national levels, serving as a committee member on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Scientific Advisory Board. She has also participated in advisory committees organized by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine as well as The French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety. Furthermore, Dr. Messerlian hosts a podcast entitled “The Fertility Sisterhood: Cleaning Up Your Lifestyle for Future Generations,” that aims to educate women on how various aspects of their environmental health can impact fertility and provide guidance for mitigating such effects, including actionable steps partners can take.

Notable Publications
A complete list of Dr. Messerlian's publications can be found on her Google Scholar page or CV.
 * Zhang Y, Mustieles V, Sun Q, et al. Association of Early Pregnancy Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance Exposure With Birth Outcomes. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(5):e2314934. Published 2023 May 1. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.14934
 * Zhang Y, Mustieles V, Wang YX, et al. Folate concentrations and serum perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substance concentrations in adolescents and adults in the USA (National Health and Nutrition Examination Study 2003-16): an observational study. Lancet Planet Health. 2023;7(6):e449-e458. doi:10.1016/S2542-5196(23)00088-8
 * Martin L, Zhang Y, Mustieles V, Souter I, Petrozza J, Messerlian C. Reproductive medicine in the face of climate change: a call for prevention through leadership. Fertil Steril. 2022;118(2):239-246. doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2022.06.010
 * Yland JJ, Zhang Y, Williams PL, et al. Phthalate and DINCH urinary concentrations across pregnancy and risk of preterm birth. Environ Pollut. 2022;292(Pt B):118476. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2021.118476
 * Sun Y, Chen C, Mustieles V, et al. Association of Blood Trihalomethane Concentrations with Risk of All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality in U.S. Adults: A Prospective Cohort Study. Environ Sci Technol. 2021;55(13):9043-9051. doi:10.1021/acs.est.1c00862