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Photo of Kelly Brunst, PHD

Kelly Brunst, PHD

Associate Professor

Environmental & Public Health Sciences | College of Medicine

Education/Credentials
  • Postdoctoral Fellow: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (Pediatric Environmental Health)
  • Doctoral Degree: University of Cincinnati (Epidemiology)
  • Bachelor's Degree: Thomas More College (Biology)
Contact Information
Research Interests

Dr. Brunst's transdisciplinary research platform focuses on studying the programming effects of social (e.g., maternal psychosocial stress, lifetime trauma, psychological distress) and chemical (e.g., traffic pollution, smoking, and fluoride) exposures on child health outcomes. She applies mitochondriomics and epigenomics to her epidemiological studies to identify biomarkers that can be used to predict children at increased risk for adverse outcomes. 

Peer Reviewed Publications

Adkins E.A.; Brunst K.J. 12-01-2021. Impacts of fluoride neurotoxicity and mitochondrial dysfunction on cognition and mental health: A li International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18 24,

Flom J.D.; Chiu Y.H.M.; Hsu H.H.L.; Devick K.L.; Brunst K.J.; Campbell R.; Enlow M.B.; Coull B.A.; Wright R.J. 12-01-2018. Maternal Lifetime Trauma and Birthweight: Effect Modification by In Utero Cortisol and Child Sex Journal of Pediatrics, 203 , 301-308

Brunst K.J.; Guerra M.S.; Gennings C.; Hacker M.; Jara C.; Bosquet Enlow M.; Wright R.O.; Baccarelli A.; Wright R.J. 12-01-2017. Maternal Lifetime Stress and Prenatal Psychological Functioning and Decreased Placental Mitochondria American Journal of Epidemiology, 186 11, 1227-1236

Lipton L.; Brunst K.; Kannan S.; Ni Y.; Ganguri H.; Wright R.; Bosquet Enlow M. 12-01-2017. Associations among prenatal stress, maternal antioxidant intakes in pregnancy, and child temperament Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, 8 6, 638-648

Horowitz-Kraus T.; Brunst K.J.; Cecil K.M. 11-23-2018. Children with dyslexia and typical readers: Sex-based choline differences revealed using proton magn Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12 ,

Campbell R.K.; Curtin P.; Bosquet Enlow M.; Brunst K.J.; Wright R.O.; Wright R.J. 11-01-2020. Disentangling Associations among Maternal Lifetime and Prenatal Stress, Psychological Functioning du Health Equity, 4 1, 489-499

Cowell W.J.; Brunst K.J.; Malin A.J.; Coull B.A.; Gennings C.; Kloog I.; Lipton L.; Wright R.O.; Enlow M.B.; Wright R.J. 10-01-2019. Prenatal exposure to PM<inf>2.5</inf> and cardiac vagal tone during infancy: Findings fr Environmental Health Perspectives, 127 10,

Brunst K.; Baccarelli A.; Wright R. 09-01-2015. Integrating mitochondriomics in children's environmental health Journal of Applied Toxicology, 35 9, 976-991

Haynes E.; Heckel P.; Ryan P.; Roda S.; Leung Y.; Sebastian K.; Succop P. 09-01-2010. Environmental manganese exposure in residents living near a ferromanganese refinery in Southeast Ohi NeuroToxicology, 31 5, 468-474

Brunst K.J.; Ryan P.H.; Brokamp C.; Bernstein D.; Reponen T.; Lockey J.; Khurana Hershey G.K.; Levin L.; Grinshpun S.A.; LeMasters G. 08-15-2015. Timing and duration of traffic-related air pollution exposure and the risk for childhood wheeze and American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 192 4, 421-427

Brunst K.; Ryan P.; Altaye M.; Yolton K.; Maloney T.; Beckwith T.; LeMasters G.; Cecil K. 08-01-2019. Myo-inositol mediates the effects of traffic-related air pollution on generalized anxiety symptoms a Environmental Research, 175 , 71-78

Brunst K.; Ryan P.; Lockey J.; Bernstein D.; Mckay R.; Khurana Hershey G.; Villareal M.; Biagini Myers J.; Levin L.; Burkle J.; Evans S.; Lemasters G. 08-01-2012. Unraveling the relationship between aeroallergen sensitization, gender, second-hand smoke exposure, Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, 23 5, 479-487

Cowell W.; Brunst K.; Colicino E.; Zhang L.; Zhang X.; Bloomquist T.R.; Baccarelli A.A.; Wright R.J. 07-01-2021. Placental mitochondrial DNA mutational load and perinatal outcomes: Findings from a multi-ethnic pre Mitochondrion, 59 , 267-275

Bosquet Enlow M.; Devick K.L.; Brunst K.J.; Lipton L.R.; Coull B.A.; Wright R.J. 07-01-2017. Maternal Lifetime Trauma Exposure, Prenatal Cortisol, and Infant Negative Affectivity Infancy, 22 4, 492-513

Brunst K.J.; Tignor N.; Just A.; Liu Z.; Lin X.; Hacker M.R.; Bosquet Enlow M.; Wright R.O.; Wang P.; Baccarelli A.A.; Wright R.J. 06-03-2018. Cumulative lifetime maternal stress and epigenome-wide placental DNA methylation in the PRISM cohort Epigenetics, 13 6, 665-681

Sammallahti S.; Cortes Hidalgo A.P.; Tuominen S.; Malmberg A.; Mulder R.H.; Brunst K.J.; Alemany S.; McBride N.S.; Yousefi P.; Heiss J.A.; McRae N.; Page C.M.; Jin J.; Pesce G.; Caramaschi D.; Rifas-Shiman S.L.; Koen N.; Adams C.D.; Magnus M.C.; Baïz N.; Ratanatharathorn A.; Czamara D.; Håberg S.E.; Colicino E.; Baccarelli A.A.; Cardenas A.; DeMeo D.L.; Lawlor D.A.; Relton C.L.; Felix J.F.; van IJzendoorn M.H.; Bakermans-Kranenburg M.J.; Kajantie E.; Räikkönen K.; Sunyer J.; Sharp G.C.; Houtepen L.C.; Nohr E.A.; Sørensen T.I.A.; Téllez-Rojo M.M.; Wright R.O.; Annesi-Maesano I.; Wright J.; Hivert M.F.; Wright R.J.; Zar H.J.; Stein D.J.; London S.J.; Cecil C.A.M.; Tiemeier H.; Lahti J. 06-01-2021. Maternal anxiety during pregnancy and newborn epigenome-wide DNA methylation Molecular Psychiatry, 26 6, 1832-1845

Cecil K.M.; Brunst K.J.; Horowitz-Kraus T. 05-15-2021. Greater reading gain following intervention is associated with low magnetic resonance spectroscopy d Brain Research, 1759 ,

Lee A.G.; Le Grand B.; Hsu H.H.L.; Chiu Y.H.M.; Brennan K.J.; Bose S.; Rosa M.J.; Brunst K.J.; Kloog I.; Wilson A.; Schwartz J.; Morgan W.; Coull B.A.; Wright R.O.; Baccarelli A.A.; Wright R.J. 04-27-2018. Prenatal fine particulate exposure associated with reduced childhood lung function and nasal epithel Respiratory Research, 19 1,

Wright R.J.; Brunst K.J. 04-01-2013. Programming of respiratory health in childhood: Influence of outdoor air pollution Current Opinion in Pediatrics, 25 2, 232-239

Brunst K.J.; Zhang L.; Zhang X.; Baccarelli A.A.; Bloomquist T.; Wright R.J. 03-15-2021. Associations Between Maternal Lifetime Stress and Placental Mitochondrial DNA Mutations in an Urban Biological Psychiatry, 89 6, 570-578

Adkins E.A.; Yolton K.; Strawn J.R.; Lippert F.; Ryan P.H.; Brunst K.J. 03-01-2022. Fluoride exposure during early adolescence and its association with internalizing symptoms Environmental Research, 204 ,

Brunst K.J.; Sanchez-Guerra M.; Chiu Y.H.M.; Wilson A.; Coull B.A.; Kloog I.; Schwartz J.; Brennan K.J.; Bosquet Enlow M.; Wright R.O.; Baccarelli A.A.; Wright R.J. 03-01-2018. Prenatal particulate matter exposure and mitochondrial dysfunction at the maternal-fetal interface: Environment International, 112 , 49-58

De Carli M.M.; Baccarelli A.A.; Trevisi L.; Pantic I.; Brennan K.J.; Hacker M.R.; Loudon H.; Brunst K.J.; Wright R.O.; Wright R.J.; Just A.C. 03-01-2017. Epigenome-wide cross-tissue predictive modeling and comparison of cord blood and placental methylati Epigenomics, 9 3, 231-240

Felix J.F.; Joubert B.R.; Baccarelli A.A.; Sharp G.C.; Almqvist C.; Annesi-Maesano I.; Arshad H.; Baiz N.; Bakermans-Kranenburg M.J.; Bakulski K.M.; Binder E.B.; Bouchard L.; Breton C.V.; Brunekreef B.; Brunst K.J.; Burchard E.G.; Bustamante M.; Chatzi L.; Munthe-Kaas M.C.; Corpeleijn E.; Czamara D.; Dabelea D.; Smith G.D.; De Boever P.; Duijts L.; Dwyer T.; Eng C.; Eskenazi B.; Everson T.M.; Falahi F.; Fallin M.D.; Farchi S.; Fernandez M.F.; Gao L.; Gaunt T.R.; Ghantous A.; Gillman M.W.; Gonseth S.; Grote V.; Gruzieva O.; Håberg S.E.; Herceg Z.; Hivert M.F.; Holland N.; Holloway J.W.; Hoyo C.; Hu D.; Huang R.C.; Huen K.; Järvelin M.R.; Jima D.D.; Just A.C.; Karagas M.R.; Karlsson R.; Karmaus W.; Kechris K.J.; Kere J.; Kogevinas M.; Koletzko B.; Koppelman G.H.; Kupers L.K.; Ladd-Acosta C.; Lahti J.; Lambrechts N.; Langie S.A.S.; Lie R.T.; Liu A.H.; Magnus M.C.; Magnus P.; Maguire R.L.; Marsit C.J.; McArdle W.; Melen E.; Melton P.; Murphy S.K.; Nawrot T.S.; Nisticò L.; Nohr E.A.; Nordlund B.; Nystad W.; Oh S.S.; Oken E.; Page C.M.; Perron P.; Pershagen G.; Pizzi C.; Plusquin M.; Raikkonen K.; Reese S.E.; Reischl E.; Richiardi L.; Ring S.; Roy R.P.; Rzehak P.; Schoeters G.; Schwartz D.A.; Sebert S.; Snieder H.; Sørensen T.I.A.; Starling A.P. 02-01-2018. Cohort profile: Pregnancy and childhood epigenetics (PACE) consortium International Journal of Epidemiology, 47 1, 22-23u

Brunst K.J.; Kannan S.; Ni Y.M.; Gennings C.; Ganguri H.B.; Wright R.J. 02-01-2016. Validation of a Food Frequency Questionnaire for Estimating Micronutrient Intakes in an Urban US Sam Maternal and Child Health Journal, 20 2, 250-260

Brunst K.J.; Hsu H.H.L.; Zhang L.; Zhang X.; Carroll K.N.; Just A.; Coull B.A.; Kloog I.; Wright R.O.; Baccarelli A.A.; Wright R.J. 01-01-2022. Prenatal particulate matter exposure and mitochondrial mutational load at the maternal-fetal interfa Mitochondrion, 62 , 102-110

Beckwith T.; Cecil K.; Altaye M.; Severs R.; Wolfe C.; Percy Z.; Maloney T.; Yolton K.; LeMasters G.; Brunst K.; Ryan P. 01-01-2020. Reduced gray matter volume and cortical thickness associated with traffic-related air pollution in a PLoS ONE, 15 1,

Brunst K.J.; Rosa M.J.; Jara C.; Lipton L.R.; Lee A.; Coull B.A.; Wright R.J. 01-01-2017. Impact of Maternal Lifetime Interpersonal Trauma on Children's Asthma: Mediation Through Maternal Ac Psychosomatic Medicine, 79 1, 91-100

LeMasters G.; Levin L.; Bernstein D.I.; Lockey S.D.; Lockey J.E.; Burkle J.; Khurana Hershey G.K.; Brunst K.; Ryan P.H. 01-01-2015. Secondhand smoke and traffic exhaust confer opposing risks for asthma in normal and overweight child Obesity, 23 1, 32-36

Brunst K.J.; Wright R.O.; DiGioia K.; Enlow M.B.; Fernandez H.; Wright R.J.; Kannan S. 01-01-2014. Racial/ethnic and sociodemographic factors associated with micronutrient intakes and inadequacies am Public Health Nutrition, 17 9, 1960-1970

Brunst K.; Leung Y.; Ryan P.; Khurana Hershey G.; Levin L.; Ji H.; Lemasters G.; Ho S. 01-01-2013. Forkhead box protein 3 (FOXP3) hypermethylation is associated with diesel exhaust exposure and risk Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 131 2,