Erick Forno, MD, MPH

  • Director, Pediatric Asthma Center and Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Clinical and Translational Science
  • Co-Director, Severe Asthma Clinic, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh

Erick Forno, MD, MPH, is a pediatric pulmonologist at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and an associate professor of pediatrics and clinical and translational science at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Forno’s overarching research interests are the epidemiology, genetic epidemiology, and genomics of asthma. He is particularly focused on the effects of obesity and adiposity on childhood asthma. He is co-director of the Severe Asthma Program, together with Allyson Larkin from the Division of Allergy and Immunology. He also leads the Children's Hospital Asthma Registry.

Professional and Scientific Society Memberships

  • American Academy of Pediatrics, 2003-2015 
  • American Thoracic Society, 2006-Present 
  • American Society of Human Genetics, 2007-Present 
  • Society for Pediatric Research, 2013-Present 
  • European Respiratory Society, 2018-Present 
  • Latin American Thoracic Society, 2019-Present 

Education & Training

  • MD, Universidad Cayetano Heredia, 2001
  • MPH, Harvard School of Public Health, 2009
  • Residency in General Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital Denver, 2003-2006
  • Residency in Pediatric Pulmonology, Children’s Hospital Boston, 2006-2009
  • Research Fellowship, Channing Laboratory, Harvard Medical School, 2007-2009

Selected Publications

Yan Q*, Forno E*, Herrera-Luis E, Pino-Yanes M, Yang G, Oh S, Acosta-Perez E, Hu D, Eng C, Huntsman S, Rodriguez-Santana JR, Cloutier MM, Canino G, Burchard EG, Chen W, Celedón JC. A genome-wide association study of asthma hospitalizations in adults. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2021 Mar; 147(3):933-940. PMID: 32890573. PubMed Central: PMC7921212.

Rosser FJ, Han YY, Forno E, Acosta-Perez E, Canino G, Celedón JC. Indoor endotoxin, proximity to a major roadway, and severe asthma exacerbations among children in Puerto Rico. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2020 Dec; 125(6): 658-664.e2. PMID: 32911057. PubMed Central: PMC7680389.

Yan Q*, Forno E*, Herrera-Luis E, Pino-Yanes M, Qi C, Rios R, Han YY, Kim S, Oh S, Acosta-Perez E, Zhang R, Hu D, Eng C, Huntsman S, Avila L, Boutaoui N, Cloutier MM, Soto-Quiros ME, Xu CJ, Weiss ST, Lasky-Su J, Kiedrowski MR, Figueiredo C, Bomberger J, Barreto ML, Canino G, Chen W, Koppelman GH, Burchard EG, Celedón JC. A genome-wide association study of severe asthma exacerbations in Latino children and adolescents. Eur Respir J. 2021 Apr 1; 57(4): 2002693. PMID: 33093117. PubMed Central: PMC8026735. 

Stevens EL, Han YY, Rosser F, Forno E, Acosta-Perez E, Miller GE, Canino G, Celedón JC. Maternal depressive symptoms, lung function, and severe asthma exacerbations in Puerto Rican children. J Allergy Clinical Immunol Pract. 2021 Mar; 9(3): 1319-1326.e3. PMID: 33127521. PubMed Central: PMC7946650.

Han YY, Yan Q, Chen W, Forno E, Celedón JC. Serum insulin-like growth factor-1, asthma, and lung function among British adults. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2021 Mar 126(3): 284-291.e2. PMID: 33316372. PubMed Central: PMC7897263.

Eddens T, Wolfe R, Nowalk A, Anderson A, Forno E, Campfield B. Trimetroprim-sulfamethoxazole use is associated with improved lung function in patients with asthma. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2021 Apr; 126(4): 440-442. PMID:33465454. PubMed Central: PMC8009834.

Yan Q, Forno E, Cardenas A, Qi C, Han YY, Acosta-Perez E, Kim S, Zhang R, Boutaoui N, Canino G, Vonk JM, Xu CJ, Chen W, Oken E, Gold DR, Koppelman GH, Celedón JC. Exposure to violence, chronic stress, nasal DNA methylation, and atopic asthma in children. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2021 Mar 22 [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 33751861. PubMed Central: In process.

Yan Q, Forno E, Celedon JC, Chen W. A region-based method for causal mediation analysis of DNA methylation data. Epigenetics. 2021 Mar 23 [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 33757385. PubMed Central: In process.

Han YY, Forno E, Witchel SF, Manni ML, Acosta-Perez E, Canino G, Celedón JC. Testosterone-to-estradiol ratio and lung function in a prospective study of Puerto Rican youth. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2021 Apr 20 [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 33892162. PubMed Central: In process.

Mondal P, Midya V, Khokhar A, Sathianathan S, Forno E. Predictors of diffusing capacity in children with sickle cell disease: a longitudinal study. Front Pediatr. 2021 May 4 [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: In process.

Rosser FJ, Han YY, Forno E, Bacharier LB, Phipatanakul W, Guilbert TW, Cabana MD, Ross K, Blatter J, Durrani S, Luther J, Wisniewski SR, Celedón JC. Effect of vitamin D supplementation on lung function in children with asthma and low vitamin D levels. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2021 May 27 [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 34118248. PubMed Central: In process.

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Academic and Research Interests

  • Childhood asthma
  • Asthma epidemiology
  • Astma genetics
  • Obesity-related asthma
  • Asthma disparities
  • Cystic fibrosis