Neeta Thakur, MD

Associate Professor of Medicine
Department of Medicine
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
+1 628 206-8314

Dr. Neeta Thakur is a pulmonary and critical care physician at UCSF who examines the role of social and environmental stressors on asthma and COPD in historically marginalized communities. Better definitions of the mechanism of how social and environmental stressors impact asthma and COPD will allow for the development of targeted interventions and therapies to improve related outcomes in historically marginalized communities. Dr. Thakur completed a dual degree program in public health and medicine at the University of Arizona focused on community health and program development and evaluation. She came to UCSF for residency in Internal Medicine and stayed to complete her Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine fellowship and has expertise in clinical research methods, social epidemiology, and implementation sciences. Dr. Thakur's experience as a clinician, and now Medical Director of the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG) Chest Clinic, gives her first-hand insight on how social and environmental stress negatively affect asthma and COPD outcomes and practical knowledge of the existing barriers to adoption of evidence-based interventions into practice.

Dr. Thakur’s NIH supported research focuses on: 1) defining obstructive lung disease phenotypes that exist in racially and ethnically diverse communities and how these are shaped by social and environmental stressors and 2) identifying community-specific drivers that place individuals at high risk for poor outcomes and 3) co-developing place-based and targeted interventions aimed at social and environmental stressors to improve respiratory outcomes in historically marginalized populations. To successfully achieve these goals, Dr. Thakur employs community-engaged approaches that range from querying community stakeholders for input to participatory action research through our Youth Participatory Action Research program and our environmental justice portfolio.

Publications: 

Neighborhood Health and Outcomes in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Annals of the American Thoracic Society

DeDent AM, Collard HR, Thakur N

Association Between Neighborhood Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Prevalence Among U.S. Veterans.

Annals of the American Thoracic Society

Hayes S, Duan KI, Wai TH, Picazo F, Donovan LM, Spece LJ, Plumley R, Slatore CG, Thakur N, Crothers K, Au DH, Feemster LC

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Related Events are Associated with Asthma Symptoms in Children.

Academic pediatrics

Martinez A, Ye M, Hessler D, de la Rosa R, Benson M, Gilgoff R, Koita K, Bucci M, Harris NB, Long D, Thakur N

Accelerating Action: Roadmap for the American Thoracic Society to Address Oppression and Health Inequity in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.

Annals of the American Thoracic Society

Okelo SO, Chesley CF, Riley I, Diaz AA, Collishaw K, Schnapp LM, Thakur N

Historical Reflection as the American Thoracic Society Moves to Combat Racism in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.

American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine

Okelo SO, Chesley CF, Riley I, Diaz AA, Collishaw K, Schnapp LM, Thakur N

Long-term ozone exposure and lung function in middle childhood.

Environmental research

Hazlehurst MF, Dearborn LC, Sherris AR, Loftus CT, Adgent MA, Szpiro AA, Ni Y, Day DB, Kaufman JD, Thakur N, Wright RJ, Sathyanarayana S, Carroll KN, Moore PE, Karr CJ

African American race is associated with worse sleep quality in heavy smokers.

Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine

Baugh AD, Acho M, Arhin A, Barjaktarevic I, Couper D, Criner G, Han M, Hansel N, Krishnan J, Malcolm K, Namen A, Peters S, Schotland H, Sowho M, Zeidler M, Woodruff P, Thakur N

Spirometry in Mixed Race Civil War Veterans.

Annals of the American Thoracic Society

Baugh AD, Woodruff P, Shiboski S, Glidden DV, Ortega VE, Thakur N

Pediatric ACEs and related life event screener (PEARLS) latent domains and child health in a safety-net primary care practice.

BMC pediatrics

Ye M, Hessler D, Ford D, Benson M, Koita K, Bucci M, Long D, Harris NB, Thakur N

Race, Racism, and Respiratory Health.

Clinics in chest medicine

Baugh A, Thakur N

Race and Ethnicity in Pulmonary Function Test Interpretation: An Official American Thoracic Society Statement.

American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine

Bhakta NR, Bime C, Kaminsky DA, McCormack MC, Thakur N, Stanojevic S, Baugh AD, Braun L, Lovinsky-Desir S, Adamson R, Witonsky J, Wise RA, Levy SD, Brown R, Forno E, Cohen RT, Johnson M, Balmes J, Mageto Y, Lee CT, Masekela R, Weiner DJ, Irvin CG, Swenson ER, Rosenfeld M, Schwartzstein RM, Agrawal A, Neptune E, Wisnivesky JP, Ortega VE, Burney P

Biological Burden of Adverse Childhood Experiences in Children.

Psychosomatic medicine

de la Rosa R, Zablotny D, Ye M, Bush NR, Hessler D, Koita K, Bucci M, Long D, Thakur N

Structural Racism and the Social Determinants of Health in Asthma.

Advances in experimental medicine and biology

Martinez A, Thakur N

Reply to: US Occupational Historical Perspective on Race and Lung Function.

American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine

Baugh AD, Thakur N, Woodruff PG

Risk of COPD exacerbation is increased by poor sleep quality and modified by social adversity.

Sleep

Baugh A, Buhr RG, Quibrera P, Barjaktarevic I, Barr RG, Bowler R, Han MK, Kaufman JD, Koch AL, Krishnan J, Labaki W, Martinez FJ, Mkorombindo T, Namen A, Ortega V, Paine R, Peters SP, Schotland H, Sundar K, Zeidler MR, Hansel NN, Woodruff PG, Thakur N

A Caregiver-Child Intervention for Mitigating Toxic Stress ("The Resiliency Clinic"): A Pilot Study.

Maternal and child health journal

Jeung J, Hessler Jones D, Frame L, Gilgoff R, Long D, Thakur N, Koita K, Bucci M, Burke Harris N

Reconsidering the Utility of Race-Specific Lung Function Prediction Equations.

American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine

Baugh AD, Shiboski S, Hansel NN, Ortega V, Barjakteravic I, Barr RG, Bowler R, Comellas AP, Cooper CB, Couper D, Criner G, Curtis JL, Dransfield M, Ejike C, Han M, Hoffman E, Krishnan J, Krishnan JA, Mannino D, Paine Iii R, Parekh T, Peters S, Putcha N, Rennard S, Thakur N, Woodruff PG

Response.

Chest

Santhosh L, Block B, Kim SY, Raju S, Shah RJ, Thakur N, Brigham EP, Parker AM

Relative environmental and social disadvantage in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Thorax

Avitzur N, Noth EM, Lamidi M, Nathan SD, Collard HR, DeDent AM, Thakur N, Johannson KA

Structural racism and its pathways to asthma and atopic dermatitis.

The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology

Martinez A, de la Rosa R, Mujahid M, Thakur N

Addressing Race in Pulmonary Function Testing by Aligning Intent and Evidence with Practice and Perception.

Chest

Bhakta NR, Kaminsky DA, Bime C, Thakur N, Hall GL, McCormack MC, Stanojevic S

Enhancing Recruitment and Retention of Minority Populations for Clinical Research in Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine: An Official American Thoracic Society Research Statement.

American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine

Thakur N, Lovinsky-Desir S, Appell D, Bime C, Castro L, Celedón JC, Ferreira J, George M, Mageto Y, Mainous Iii AG, Pakhale S, Riekert KA, Roman J, Ruvalcaba E, Sharma S, Shete P, Wisnivesky JP, Holguin F

Contribution of Individual and Neighborhood Factors to Racial Disparities in Respiratory Outcomes.

American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine

Ejike CO, Woo H, Galiatsatos P, Paulin LM, Krishnan JA, Cooper CB, Couper DJ, Kanner RE, Bowler RP, Hoffman EA, Comellas AP, Criner GJ, Barr RG, Martinez FJ, Han MK, Martinez CH, Ortega VE, Parekh TM, Christenson SA, Thakur N, Baugh A, Belz DC, Raju S, Gassett AJ, Kaufman JD, Putcha N, Hansel NN

Reassessment of Home Oxygen Prescription after Hospitalization for COPD: A Potential Target for De-implementation.

Annals of the American Thoracic Society

Spece LJ, Epler EM, Duan K, Donovan LM, Griffith MF, LaBedz S, Thakur N, Wiener RS, Krishnan JA, Au DH, Feemster LC

Native American Ancestry and Air Pollution Interact to Impact Bronchodilator Response in Puerto Rican Children with Asthma.

Ethnicity & disease

Contreras MG, Keys K, Magaña J, Goddard PC, Risse-Adams O, Zeiger AM, Mak ACY, Samedy-Bates LA, Neophytou AM, Lee E, Thakur N, Elhawary JR, Hu D, Huntsman S, Eng C, Hu T, Burchard EG, White MJ

The Structural and Social Determinants of the Racial/Ethnic Disparities in the U.S. COVID-19 Pandemic: What's Our Role?

American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine

Thakur N, Lovinsky-Desir S, Bime C, Wisnivesky JP, Celedón JC

Pediatrics adverse childhood experiences and related life events screener (PEARLS) and health in a safety-net practice.

Child abuse & neglect

Thakur N, Hessler D, Koita K, Ye M, Benson M, Gilgoff R, Bucci M, Long D, Burke Harris N

An epistatic interaction between pre-natal smoke exposure and socioeconomic status has a significant impact on bronchodilator drug response in African American youth with asthma.

BioData mining

Magaña J, Contreras MG, Keys KL, Risse-Adams O, Goddard PC, Zeiger AM, Mak ACY, Elhawary JR, Samedy-Bates LA, Lee E, Thakur N, Hu D, Eng C, Salazar S, Huntsman S, Hu T, Burchard EG, White MJ

Management and Outcomes of Critically-Ill Patients with COVID-19 Pneumonia at a Safety-net Hospital in San Francisco, a Region with Early Public Health Interventions: A Case Series.

medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences

Vanderburg S, Alipanah N, Crowder R, Yoon C, Wang R, Thakur N, Slown K, Shete PB, Rofael M, Metcalfe JZ, Merrifield C, Marquez C, Malcolm K, Lipnick M, Jain V, Gomez A, Burns G, Brown LB, Berger C, Auyeung V, Cattamanchi A, Hendrickson CM

Acculturation is associated with asthma burden and pulmonary function in Latino youth: The GALA II study.

The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology

Thakur N, Borrell LN, Ye M, Oh SS, Eng C, Meade K, Avila PC, Farber HJ, Serebrisky D, Brigino-Buenaventura E, Rodriguez-Cintron W, Kumar R, Bibbins-Domingo K, Thyne S, Sen S, Rodriguez-Santana JR, Burchard EG

A genome-wide association and admixture mapping study of bronchodilator drug response in African Americans with asthma.

The pharmacogenomics journal

Spear ML, Hu D, Pino-Yanes M, Huntsman S, Eng C, Levin AM, Ortega VE, White MJ, McGarry ME, Thakur N, Galanter J, Mak ACY, Oh SS, Ampleford E, Peters SP, Davis A, Kumar R, Farber HJ, Meade K, Avila PC, Serebrisky D, Lenoir MA, Brigino-Buenaventura E, Cintron WR, Thyne SM, Rodriguez-Santana JR, Ford JG, Chapela R, Estrada AM, Sandoval K, Seibold MA, Winkler CA, Bleecker ER, Myers DA, Williams LK, Hernandez RD, Torgerson DG, Burchard EG

An admixture mapping meta-analysis implicates genetic variation at 18q21 with asthma susceptibility in Latinos.

The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology

Gignoux CR, Torgerson DG, Pino-Yanes M, Uricchio LH, Galanter J, Roth LA, Eng C, Hu D, Nguyen EA, Huntsman S, Mathias RA, Kumar R, Rodriguez-Santana J, Thakur N, Oh SS, McGarry M, Moreno-Estrada A, Sandoval K, Winkler CA, Seibold MA, Padhukasahasram B, Conti DV, Farber HJ, Avila P, Brigino-Buenaventura E, Lenoir M, Meade K, Serebrisky D, Borrell LN, Rodriguez-Cintron W, Thyne S, Joubert BR, Romieu I, Levin AM, Sienra-Monge JJ, Del Rio-Navarro BE, Gan W, Raby BA, Weiss ST, Bleecker E, Meyers DA, Martinez FJ, Gauderman WJ, Gilliland F, London SJ, Bustamante CD, Nicolae DL, Ober C, Sen S, Barnes K, Williams LK, Hernandez RD, Burchard EG

Origins of Cancer Disparities in Young Adults: Logic Models to Guide Research.

American journal of preventive medicine

Hiatt RA, Handley MA, Ling PM, Burchard E, Thakur N, Bibbins-Domingo K

Self-reported racial/ethnic discrimination and bronchodilator response in African American youth with asthma.

PloS one

Carlson S, Borrell LN, Eng C, Nguyen M, Thyne S, LeNoir MA, Burke-Harris N, Burchard EG, Thakur N

Differential methylation between ethnic sub-groups reflects the effect of genetic ancestry and environmental exposures.

eLife

Galanter JM, Gignoux CR, Oh SS, Torgerson D, Pino-Yanes M, Thakur N, Eng C, Hu D, Huntsman S, Farber HJ, Avila PC, Brigino-Buenaventura E, LeNoir MA, Meade K, Serebrisky D, Rodríguez-Cintrón W, Kumar R, Rodríguez-Santana JR, Seibold MA, Borrell LN, Burchard EG, Zaitlen N

Breastfeeding associated with higher lung function in African American youths with asthma.

The Journal of asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma

Oh SS, Du R, Zeiger AM, McGarry ME, Hu D, Thakur N, Pino-Yanes M, Galanter JM, Eng C, Nishimura KK, Huntsman S, Farber HJ, Meade K, Avila P, Serebrisky D, Bibbins-Domingo K, Lenoir MA, Ford JG, Brigino-Buenaventura E, Rodriguez-Cintron W, Thyne SM, Sen S, Rodriguez-Santana JR, Williams K, Kumar R, Burchard EG

Perceived Discrimination Associated With Asthma and Related Outcomes in Minority Youth: The GALA II and SAGE II Studies.

Chest

Thakur N, Barcelo NE, Borrell LN, Singh S, Eng C, Davis A, Meade K, LeNoir MA, Avila PC, Farber HJ, Serebrisky D, Brigino-Buenaventura E, Rodriguez-Cintron W, Thyne S, Rodriguez-Santana JR, Sen S, Bibbins-Domingo K, Burchard EG

Air Pollution and Lung Function in Minority Youth with Asthma in the GALA II (Genes-Environments and Admixture in Latino Americans) and SAGE II (Study of African Americans, Asthma, Genes, and Environments) Studies.

American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine

Neophytou AM, White MJ, Oh SS, Thakur N, Galanter JM, Nishimura KK, Pino-Yanes M, Torgerson DG, Gignoux CR, Eng C, Nguyen EA, Hu D, Mak AC, Kumar R, Seibold MA, Davis A, Farber HJ, Meade K, Avila PC, Serebrisky D, Lenoir MA, Brigino-Buenaventura E, Rodriguez-Cintron W, Bibbins-Domingo K, Thyne SM, Williams LK, Sen S, Gilliland FD, Gauderman WJ, Rodriguez-Santana JR, Lurmann F, Balmes JR, Eisen EA, Burchard EG

Diversity in Clinical and Biomedical Research: A Promise Yet to Be Fulfilled.

PLoS medicine

Oh SS, Galanter J, Thakur N, Pino-Yanes M, Barcelo NE, White MJ, de Bruin DM, Greenblatt RM, Bibbins-Domingo K, Wu AH, Borrell LN, Gunter C, Powe NR, Burchard EG

Obesity and bronchodilator response in black and Hispanic children and adolescents with asthma.

Chest

McGarry ME, Castellanos E, Thakur N, Oh SS, Eng C, Davis A, Meade K, LeNoir MA, Avila PC, Farber HJ, Serebrisky D, Brigino-Buenaventura E, Rodriguez-Cintron W, Kumar R, Bibbins-Domingo K, Thyne SM, Sen S, Rodriguez-Santana JR, Borrell LN, Burchard EG

Genetic ancestry influences asthma susceptibility and lung function among Latinos.

The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology

Pino-Yanes M, Thakur N, Gignoux CR, Galanter JM, Roth LA, Eng C, Nishimura KK, Oh SS, Vora H, Huntsman S, Nguyen EA, Hu D, Drake KA, Conti DV, Moreno-Estrada A, Sandoval K, Winkler CA, Borrell LN, Lurmann F, Islam TS, Davis A, Farber HJ, Meade K, Avila PC, Serebrisky D, Bibbins-Domingo K, Lenoir MA, Ford JG, Brigino-Buenaventura E, Rodriguez-Cintron W, Thyne SM, Sen S, Rodriguez-Santana JR, Bustamante CD, Williams LK, Gilliland FD, Gauderman WJ, Kumar R, Torgerson DG, Burchard EG

Socioeconomic status and asthma control in African American youth in SAGE II.

The Journal of asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma

Thakur N, Martin M, Castellanos E, Oh SS, Roth LA, Eng C, Brigino-Buenaventura E, Davis A, Meade K, LeNoir MA, Farber HJ, Thyne S, Sen S, Bibbins-Domingo K, Borrell LN, Burchard EG

The lung corps' approach to reducing health disparities in respiratory disease.

Annals of the American Thoracic Society

Thakur N, McGarry ME, Oh SS, Galanter JM, Finn PW, Burchard EG

Socioeconomic status and childhood asthma in urban minority youths. The GALA II and SAGE II studies.

American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine

Thakur N, Oh SS, Nguyen EA, Martin M, Roth LA, Galanter J, Gignoux CR, Eng C, Davis A, Meade K, LeNoir MA, Avila PC, Farber HJ, Serebrisky D, Brigino-Buenaventura E, Rodriguez-Cintron W, Kumar R, Williams LK, Bibbins-Domingo K, Thyne S, Sen S, Rodriguez-Santana JR, Borrell LN, Burchard EG

Early-life air pollution and asthma risk in minority children. The GALA II and SAGE II studies.

American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine

Nishimura KK, Galanter JM, Roth LA, Oh SS, Thakur N, Nguyen EA, Thyne S, Farber HJ, Serebrisky D, Kumar R, Brigino-Buenaventura E, Davis A, LeNoir MA, Meade K, Rodriguez-Cintron W, Avila PC, Borrell LN, Bibbins-Domingo K, Rodriguez-Santana JR, Sen S, Lurmann F, Balmes JR, Burchard EG

COPD and cognitive impairment: the role of hypoxemia and oxygen therapy.

International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Thakur N, Blanc PD, Julian LJ, Yelin EH, Katz PP, Sidney S, Iribarren C, Eisner MD