Faculty Profile

Hal Morgenstern

Hal Morgenstern, BArch, MRP, PhD

  • Professor Emeritus, Epidemiology
  • Professor Emeritus, Environmental Health Sciences
  • Professor Emeritus, Urology, Medical School

Dr. Morgenstern, who retired as emeritus professor in 2017, came to U-M as Epidemiology chair in 2003, serving until 2008. His research since then has focused broadly on clinical and environmental epidemiology and methodological applications. He is currently active as co-investigator on two research projects at U-M: Supporting and improving the surveillance system for chronic kidney disease in the US (CDC); and Analysis of the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander 2014 National Health Interview Survey (Office of Minority Health, DHHS).

Dr. Morgenstern's academic career since 1978 has spanned a wide range of chronic diseases and public health applications including ischemic heart disease, cancers, musculoskeletal conditions and neuropsychiatric disorders. Since 2008, he has focused primarily on the etiology, treatment and prevention of chronic and end-stage kidney disease, and to a lesser extent collaborating in two IARC consortia on risk factors for lung cancer (ILCCO) and head and neck cancers (INHANCE); both collaborations were based on his NIH study of the effects of marijuana on the risks of smoking-related cancers. Dr. Morgenstern's recent methodological work has focused on ecologic design and analysis, mediation analysis, and causal inference. Prior to retirement, he taught courses in the Principles and Methods of Epidemiology; and Epidemiology, Health Services and Policy.

  • BArch, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1969
  • MRP, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1974
  • PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1978

Research Interests:
Chronic disease, environmental and occupational health, epidemiologic methods, social determinants of health, racial/ethnic disparities, access and quality of health care.

Research Projects:
Dr. Morgenstern is a co-investigator of a CDC study on supporting and improving the surveillance system for chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the US. The project has collected data on CKD from many sources and has integrated findings to track the population burden of CKD over time in the US.

Another co-I role involves the analysis of health and behavioral data on Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NHPI) based on a special 2014 National Health Interview Survey sponsored by the Office of Minority Health. This project is one of the first large studies to separate responses from NPHI and Asians to provide an accurate characterization of the NHPI population living in the US.

Dr. Morgenstern is a member of two IARC consortia to pool data on several studies of lung cancer (ILCCO) and head and neck cancers (INHANCE) to investigate risk factors for the occurrence and mortality of those smoking-related cancers. Participation in the consortia is based on his study of the effects of marijuana on cancer.

Dr. Morgenstern revised his chapter on "Ecologic studies and analysis" with a new co-author for the Fourth edition of Modern Epidemiology (Wolters Kluwer, 2021, pp 755-84). In addition to showing how ecologic analysis can be severely biased by the aggregation of individual data, a new section of the chapter demonstrates how ecologic analysis might produce unbiased results in the presence of unmeasured confounding by indication.

Morgenstern H, Wakefield J. Ecologic studies and analysis. In: Lash TL, VanderWeele TJ, Haneuse S, Rothman KJ, eds. Modern Epidemiology. Fourth edition. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer, 2021:755-784.

Karaboyas A, Morgenstern H, Fleischer NL, Schaubel DE, Robinson BM. Replicating randomized trial results with observational data using the parametric g-formula: an application to intravenous iron treatment in hemodialysis patients. Clinical Epidemiology 2020; 12(Nov 11):1249-1260. PMC7667704

Xiang J, Morgenstern H, Li Y, Steffick D, Bragg-Gresham J, Panapasa S, Raphael KI, Robinson BM, Herman WH, Saran R. Incidence of ESKD among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders living in the 50 US states and Pacific Island territories. American Journal of Kidney Diseases 2020; 76(3):340-349.

McCullough KP, Morgenstern H, Saran R, Herman WH, Robinson BM. Projecting ESRD incidence and prevalence in the United States through 2030. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology 2019; 30(1):127-135. PMC6317596

Bragg-Gresham JL, Morgenstern H, McClellan W, Saydah S, Pavkov ME, Williams D, Powe NR, Tuot D, Hsu R, Saran R. County-level air pollution and the prevalence of diagnosed chronic kidney disease in the US Medicare population. PLoS ONE 2018; 13(7):e0200612. PMC6067706. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0200612

Albertus P, Morgenstern H, Robinson B, Saran R. Risk of end-stage renal disease in the United States. American Journal of Kidney Diseases 2016; 68(6):862-872. PMC5123906

Email: halm@umich.edu
Office: 734-645-8993

Address:
3004 Walnut Ridge Drive
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103-2190

Areas of Expertise: Cancer,  Chronic Disease,  Environmental Health,  Health Equity,  Racism,  Social Epidemiology