Professor
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Dr. Needleman is professor of child psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He developed a new method of measuring a child's body burden of lead through the analysis of teeth and mounted the first large-scale study of intelligence and behavior in children who had no symptoms of lead toxicity other than high lead in their teeth, a study that served as a model for others around the world. He followed these children into adulthood, showing that lead exposure is associated with increased risk for failure to graduate from high school and for reading disabilities. These studies led to government programs and regulations to eliminate childhood lead poisoning. He also examined the effects of lead during pregnancy on infant development and the relationship between early lead exposure and delinquency. Dr. Needleman has consulted with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Housing and Urban Development, and State and local governments. He has written extensively on the effects of lead, lectured on the subject at universities around the world, and received many awards for his work. He was attending physician at the Children's Hospital of Boston and associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Trained in psychiatry at Temple University Health Sciences Center, Dr. Needleman received a B.A. from Muhlenberg College and an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.