More than half of Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) first responders who were at the World Trade Center disaster site have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), a risk factor of Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal cancer, as a result of exposure to airborne particulate matter.

Treatment of GERD can be difficult, costly, and may require invasive testing.

At NYU Langone, a research team led by principal investigator Anna Nolan, MD, has successfully identified blood biomarkers of World Trade Center lung—which refers to lung diseases associated with 9/11 first responders—as well as GERD and Barrett’s esophagus.

We need your help to confirm and expand these findings—an important step toward developing noninvasive, less expensive tests and treatments.

How to Participate

We are actively recruiting participants for our study, which is known as BAD-BURN (short for “biomarkers of airway disease, Barrett’s, and underdiagnosed reflux noninvasively”). If you are a 9/11 FDNY first responder who is interested in participating, please reach out to us at nolanlab_badburn@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

Ashley Witzl
Research Coordinator, Department of Medicine
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine

Related Publications

Brackenbill RM … Robison WA. Editorial for “Long-Term Health Effects of the 9/11 Disaster” in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2019. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019. DOI.

Crowley G … Nolan A. Metabolomics of WTC-lung injury (WTC-LI): A validation study. American Thoracic Society International Meeting. 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.

Kwon S … Nolan A. Clinical biomarkers of World Trade Center airway hyperreactivity: A 16-year longitudinal study. Chest. 2019. DOI.

Haider SH … Nolan A. Predictive biomarkers of gastroesophageal reflux disease and Barrett’s esophagus in World Trade Center exposed firefighters: A 15 year longitudinal study. Sci Rep. 2018. DOI.

Funding Sources

The Aerodigestive Disease in the World Trade Center–Exposed FDNY Cohort: Validation of Biomarkers and Defining Risk to Tailor Therapy study is funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (grant number U01OH012069-01A1); 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_Badburn@NYULangone.org.