A significant number of Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) first responders who were at the World Trade Center disaster site have lung disease. Certain lung conditions and particulate exposure may be risk factors for cardiovascular disease such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.

Unfortunately, early diagnosis and therapeutic options are few, in part due to our limited understanding of how these conditions develop after exposure.

In order to better understand the disease, a research team at NYU Langone, led by principal investigator Anna Nolan, MD, is studying the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease due to particulate matter exposure in FDNY responders.

But we need your help to confirm and expand our understanding of World Trade Center–related cardiovascular diseases—an important step toward improving prevention and treatment.

How to Participate

We are actively recruiting participants for our study, which is known as WTC-CaRVD (short for “World Trade Center-cardiorespiratory and vascular dysfunction”). If you are a 9/11 FDNY first responder who is interested in participating, please reach out to us at nolanlab_carvd@nyulangone.org, and a member of our team will contact you.

Study Investigators

Anna Nolan, MD
Professor, Department of Medicine
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine
Division of Environmental Medicine

Sophia Kwon, DO, MPH
Instructor, Department of Medicine
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine

Sanjiti Podury, MD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Medicine
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine

Muhammad Saad Farooqi, MD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Medicine
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine

Rachel Lam, BS
Research Assistant, Department of Medicine
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine

Lira Gutierrez
Research Coordinator, Department of Medicine
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine

Related Publications

Haider SH … Nolan A. Multiomics of World Trade Center particulate matter–induced persistent airway hyperreactivity: Role of receptor for advanced glycation end products. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 2020. DOI.

Veerappan A … Nolan A. World Trade Center-cardiorespiratory and vascular dysfunction: assessing the phenotype and metabolome of a murine particulate matter exposure model. Sci Rep. 2020. DOI.

Citron J … Nolan A. Genomics of particulate matter exposure associated cardiopulmonary disease: A narrative review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019. DOI.

Clementi EA … Nolan A. Metabolic syndrome and air pollution: A narrative review of their cardiopulmonary effects. Toxics. 2019. DOI.

Kwon S … Nolan A. Validation of predictive metabolic syndrome biomarkers of World Trade Center lung injury: A 16-year longitudinal study. Chest. 2019. DOI.

Kwon S … Nolan A. Metabolic syndrome biomarkers of World Trade Center airway hyperreactivity: A 16-year prospective cohort study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019. DOI.

Crowley G … Nolan A. Metabolomics of World Trade Center-lung injury: A machine learning approach. BMJ Open Respir Res. 2018. DOI.

Caraher EJ … Nolan A. Receptor for advanced glycation end-products and World Trade Center particulate induced lung function loss: A case-cohort study and murine model of acute particulate exposure. PLoS One. 2017. DOI.

Schenck EJ … Nolan A. Enlarged pulmonary artery is predicted by vascular injury biomarkers and is associated with WTC-Lung Injury in exposed fire fighters: A case–control study. BMJ Open. 2014. DOI.

Weiden MD … Nolan A. Cardiovascular biomarkers predict susceptibility to lung injury in World Trade Center dust-exposed firefighters. Eur Respir J. 2013. DOI.

Naveed B … Nolan A. Metabolic syndrome biomarkers predict lung function impairment: A nested case-control study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2012. DOI.

Funding Sources

The World Trade Center Particulate Matter–Induced Cardiorespiratory and Vascular Dysfunction: A Multiomic Approach study is funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (grant number U01OH011855); the FDNY World Trade Center Health Program; the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; and the Stony Wold-Herbert Fund, Inc.

Contact Us

If you have questions about our project, please email Anna Nolan, MD, principal investigator, at nolanlab_carvd@nyulangone.org.