UMASH Co-Director Matthew Keiffer, MD, MPH has been quoted in a recent AgriView.com publication. In the article, entitled ‘Farms linked to less asthma, allergies’, Dr. Keiffer states that “he hopes researchers will be able to use the study’s findings to develop a therapy to prevent asthma and allergies.”

The UMASH 2012 funded Pilot Project “Exploratory Immunologic Differences in Cord Blood from Infants Born into Farming Environments Compared to Nonfarming Environments in MESA” was the initial study that has led to further research in this important area of farm family health. The Principal Investigator of the 2012 UMASH pilot project was Christine Seroogy, MD at the University of Wisconsin who specifically looked at cross-sectional studies on cord blood of term newborns that found both pre- and post-natal environmental exposures were significantly associated with unique patterns of immunologic responses.