Faculty and Researcher Directory

Rachel Grashow

Research Scientist

Department of Environmental Health

Football Players Health Study at Harvard University

Education

B.S., Sociology, Wesleyan University, 2000
Ph.D., Neuroscience, Brandeis University, 2010
M.S., Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Selected Professional Affiliations

Society of Toxicology
Association of Women in Science

Research Interests

Rachel Grashow’s previous work has investigated how brain function in vulnerable populations such as children, pregnant women, veterans, and the elderly can be altered by physical and chemical exposures. Currently, she is exploring the long term physical and cognitive health effects of professional American football at the Football Players Health Study at Harvard University. Rachel is guided by the knowledge that scientists can increase their impact by not only publishing papers in scientific journals, but also through partnering with affected communities to achieve policy and personal behavioral changes.

Publications

  • R. Grashow, M. Weisskopf, A. Baggish, F. Speizer, A. Whittington, L. Nadler, A. Connor, R. Keske, H. Taylor Jr., R. Zafonte, A. Pascual-Leone (2020) Pre-mortem Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Diagnoses in Professional Football. Annals of Neurology [ePub ahead of print].
  • Kponee-Shovein, R. Grashow, R. Rotem, B. Coull, M. M Téllez-Rojo , L. Schnaase, A. Mercado, B. Sanchez, K. Peterson, H. Hu, M. Hernandez-Avila, M. Weisskopf (2020) Estimating the Causal Effect of Prenatal Lead on Prepulse Inhibition: A Prospective Study in Children and Adolescents from Mexico City. Neurotoxicology [ePub ahead of print].
  • R. Grashow, V. Bessoneau, A. Wang, R. Gerona, R. Rudel, R. Morello-Frosch (2020) Integrating exposure knowledge and serum suspect screening as a new approach to biomonitoring: An application in firefighters and office workers. Environmental Science & Technology [ePub ahead of print].
  • K. Kponee-Shovein, R. Grashow, B. Coull, M. Téllez-Rojo, L. Schnaas, A. Mercado, B. a Sanchez, K. Peterson, H. Hu, M. Hernandez-Avila, M. Weisskopf (2019) Socio-demographic Predictors of Prepulse Inhibition: A Prospective Study in Children and Adolescents from Mexico City. Biological Psychiatry. Biological Psychiatry. Biol; 145:8-16.
  • R. Grashow, M. Weisskopf, K. Miller, D. Nathan, R. Zafonte, F. Speizer, T. Courtney, A. Baggish, H. Taylor, A. Pascual-Leone, L. Nadler, A. Roberts (2019) Concussion symptoms and indicators of low testosterone and erectile dysfunction in a cohort of former professional American-style football players. JAMA Neurology; 76 (12):1428-1438.
  • A. Roberts, A. Pascual-Leone, F. Speizer, R. Zafonte, A. Baggish, H. Taylor Jr, L. Nadler, T. Courtney, A. Connor, R. Grashow, A. Stillman, D. Marengi, M Weisskopf (2019). Exposure to American Football and Neuropsychiatric Health in Former National Football League Players: Findings From the Football Players Health Study. American Journal of Sports Medicine; 47 (12):2871-2880.
  • R. Grashow, A. Roberts, R. Zafonte, A. Pascual-Leone, MD, A. Baggish, H. Taylor, Jr., L. Nadler, T. K. Courtney, A. Connor, M. Weisskopf (2019) Defining exposures in professional football: professional American-style football players as an occupational cohort. Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, 7 (2).
  • Watford, R. Grashow, V. De La Rosa, J. Ackerman, R. Rudel, M. Martin (2018) Novel application of normalized pointwise mutual information (NPMI) to mine biomedical literature for gene sets associated with disease: Use case in breast carcinogenesis. Computational Toxicolog 7: 46-57.
  • R. Grashow, V. De La Rosa, S. Watford, J. Ackerman, R. Rudel (2018) BC Screen: A gene panel to test for breast carcinogenesis in chemical safety screening. Computational Toxicology 5: 16-24.
  • F. White, L. Steele, J.P. O’Callaghan, K. Sullivan, J.H. Binns, F.E. Bloom, J.A. Bunker, F. Crawford, B.A. Golomb, J.C. Graves, A. Hardie, N. Klimas, M. Knox,W.J. Meggs, J. Melling, M.A. Philbert, R. Grashow (2016) Recent Research on Gulf War illness and other health problems in veterans of the 1991 Gulf War: Effects of toxicant exposures during deployment. Cortex 74: 449-75.
  • Grashow, D. Sparrow, H. Hu, M.G. Weisskopf (2015) Cumulative lead exposure is associated with reduced olfactory function in elderly men: the Normative Aging Study. Neurotoxicology 49: 158-164.
  • Y. Wong, S. Fang, R. Grashow, T. Fan, D.C. Christiani (2015) The Relationship between Occupational Metal Exposure and Arterial Compliance. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 57(4): 355-60.
  • Grashow, J. Zhang, S.C. Fang, M.G. Weisskopf, D.C. Christiani, Kile, M.L., J.M. Cavallari (2014) Inverse association between toenail arsenic and body mass index in a population of welders. Environmental Research 131: 131-133.
  • Y. Wong, I. De Vivo, X. Lin, R. Grashow, J.M. Cavallari, D.C. Christiani (2014) The Association between Global DNA Methylation and Telomere Length. Genetic Epidemiology 38 (3): 254-264.
  • Grashow, J. Zhang, S.C. Fang, M.G. Weisskopf, D.C. Christiani, J.M. Cavallari (2014) Toenail metal concentrations as a biomarker of occupational welding fume exposure. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene 11 (6): 397-405.
  • Lindert, O. von Ehrenstein, R. Grashow, G. Gal, E. Braehler, M.G. Weisskopf (2013) Sexual and physical abuse in childhood is associated with depression and anxiety over the life course – systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Public Health 59(2):359-72
  • Grashow, M. W. Miller, A. McKinney, L.H. Nie, D. Sparrow, H. Hu, M. Weisskopf (2013) Lead exposure and fear-potentiated startle in the VA Normative Aging Study: a pilot study of a novel physiological approach to investigating neurotoxicant effects. Neurotoxicol Teratol 38: 21-28.
  • Grashow, A. Spiro, K.M. Taylor, K. Newton, R. Shrairman, A. Landau, D. Sparrow, H. Hu, M. Weisskopf (2013) Cumulative lead exposure in community-dwelling adults and fine motor function: comparing standard and novel tasks in the VA Normative Aging Study. Neurotox 35: 154-61.
  • Brookings, R. Grashow, E. Marder (2012) Statistics of neuronal investigation with open and closed loop measures of intrinsic excitability. Front Neural Circuits 6 (19): 1-12.
  • Grashow, T. Brookings, E. Marder (2010) Compensation for variable intrinsic neuronal excitability by circuit-synaptic interactions. J. Neurosci. 30 (27): 9145-9156.
  • Grashow, T. Brookings, E. Marder (2009) Reliable neuromodulation from circuits with variable underlying structure. Proc Natl Acad Sci 106(28):11742-6.
  • A-E. Tobin, R. Grashow, L.S. Tang, S.R. Pulver, E. Marder (2009) Using the dynamic clamp to explore the relationship between intrinsic activity and network dynamics. In: Destexhe, Bal (editors). Dynamic-clamp: from principles to applications.
  • J. Gutierrez and R. Grashow (2009) Cancer borealis stomatogastric nervous system dissection. J. Vis. Exp 23: 1207.
  • Marder, A.-E. Tobin, R. Grashow (2007) How tightly tuned are network parameters? Insight from computational and experimental studies in small rhythmic motor networks. Prog Brain Res. 165: 193-200.