Picture of Allan H. Smith

Allan H. Smith

Professor
Public Health
ahsmith@berkeley.edu
https://publichealth.berkeley.edu/people/allan-smith-md-phd/

Creative Achievements 
• Provided definitive evidence from Argentina and Chile that arsenic in drinking water is a potent cause of human bladder and lung cancer 
• Showed that with exposure to water containing around 600 µg/L, one in 10 adult cancer deaths may be due to arsenic-caused cancers, the highest environmental cancer risk ever reported 
• Identified a dose-response relationship between arsenic exposure and bladder cell micronuclei, a marker of genetic damage to bladder cells which may relate to cancer risks 
 
Current Research Interests 
• U.S. and international studies of the health effects of arsenic in drinking water 
• Risk assessment for occupational and environmental exposures 
• International health studies
 
Key Publications 
• Steinmaus C, Yuan Y, Kalman D, Atallah R, Smith AH. Intra-individual variability in arsenic methylation in a US Population. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 14:919-24, 2005.
• Guha Mazumder DN, Steinmaus C, Bhattacharya P, von Ehrenstein O, Ghosh N, Gotway M, Sil A, Balmes J, Haque R, Hira Smith MM, Smith AH. Increased Risk of Bronchiectasis in Persons with Skin Lesions Due to Arsenic in Drinking Water in West Bengal, India. Epidemiology 16:760-5, 2005
• von Ehrenstein OS, Guha Mazumder DN ,Yuan Y, Samanta S, Balmes J, Sil A, Ghosh N, Hira-Smith M, Haque R, Purushothamam R, Lahiri S, Das S, Smith AH. Decrements in Lung Function Related to Arsenic in Drinking Water in West Bengal, India. Am J Epidemiol 162:533-41, 2005.
• Steinmaus C, Carrigan K, Kalman D, Atallah R, Yuan Y, Smith AH. Dietary intake and arsenic methylation in a US Population. Environ Health Perspect 113:1153-9, 2005.
• Steinmaus C, Bates MN, Yuan Y, Kalman D, Atallah R, Rey O, Biggs ML, Hopenhayn C, Moore L, Hoang B, Smith AH. Arsenic Methylation and Bladder Cancer Risk in Case-Control Studies in Argentina and the United States. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2005 In Press.
• Chung JS, Haque R, Guha Mazumder DN, Moore LE, Ghosh N, Samanta S, Mitra S, Hira-Smith MM, von Ehrenstein O, Basu A, Liaw J, Smith AH. Blood concentrations of methionine, selenium, beta-carotene, and other micronutrients in a case-control study of arsenic-induced skin lesions in West Bengal, India. Environmental Research. Dec. 2005.
• Savarimuthu X, Hira-Smith MM, Yuan Y, von Ehrenstein OS, DasS, Ghosh N, Guha Mazumder DN, Smith AH. Seasonal Variation of Arsenic Concentration in Tube Wells in West Bengal, India. J Health Popul Nutr, In Press.
 
Teaching 
• Epidemiological Methods (UCB) 
• Advanced Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology (UCB)

University and Public Service
• Director, Arsenic Health Effects Research Program, with studies in five countries 
• Director, UC Berkeley Fogarty International Research and Training Program in Environmental and Occupational Health, operating in India 
• Science Advisor to Project Well. The project involves providing arsenic-safe drinking water to villages located in the arsenic-prone region of West Bengal, India.