About

Jonathan M. Spergel, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Pediatrics (Allergy/Immunology) at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He serves as the Director of the Food Allergy Center and the Center for Pediatric Eosinophilic Disorders at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He is also the Chief of the Allergy Section within the hospital's Division of Allergy and Immunology. Dr. Spergel is a member of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics and the Institute for Immunology. His research expertise includes eosinophilic esophagitis, food allergy, gastrointestinal food allergy, and atopic dermatitis. His clinical expertise encompasses atopic dermatitis, food allergy, asthma, allergic rhinitis, and general allergy and immunology. Dr. Spergel has contributed to the understanding and treatment of allergic and eosinophilic disorders, with numerous publications exploring the efficacy of therapies such as Dupilumab and the mechanisms underlying eosinophilic esophagitis and food allergies.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Computer Science
• Internal medicine
• Biology
• Political Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Pathology
• Statistics
• Environmental health
• Gerontology
• Immunology
• Intensive care medicine
• Dermatology
• Geography
• Engineering
• Gastroenterology
• Cartography
• Pediatrics
• Demography

Selected publications

• Incidence rates of childhood asthma with recurrent exacerbations in the US Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program

  Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology · 2023 · 20 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Medicine
  • Environmental health
  DOI

• International Consensus Recommendations for Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease Nomenclature

  Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology · 2022 · 165 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Medicine
  DOI

• Esophageal remodeling in eosinophilic esophagitis: Relationships to luminal captured biomarkers of inflammation and periostin

  Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology · 2022 · 44 citations

  • Medicine
  • Internal medicine
  • Gastroenterology
  DOI

• Associations of Neighborhood Opportunity and Social Vulnerability With Trajectories of Childhood Body Mass Index and Obesity Among US Children

  JAMA Network Open · 2022 · 106 citations

  • Demography
  • Medicine
  • Gerontology

  Importance: Physical and social neighborhood attributes may have implications for children's growth and development patterns. The extent to which these attributes are associated with body mass index (BMI) trajectories and obesity risk from childhood to adolescence remains understudied. Objective: To examine associations of neighborhood-level measures of opportunity and social vulnerability with trajectories of BMI and obesity risk from birth to adolescence. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study used data from 54 cohorts (20 677 children) participating in the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program from January 1, 1995, to January 1, 2022. Participant inclusion required at least 1 geocoded residential address and anthropometric measure (taken at the same time or after the address date) from birth through adolescence. Data were analyzed from February 1 to June 30, 2022. Exposures: Census tract-level Child Opportunity Index (COI) and Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) linked to geocoded residential addresses at birth and in infancy (age range, 0.5-1.5 years), early childhood (age range, 2.0-4.8 years), and mid-childhood (age range, 5.0-9.8 years). Main Outcomes and Measures: BMI (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by length [if aged <2 years] or height in meters squared) and obesity (age- and sex-specific BMI ≥95th percentile). Based on nationwide distributions of the COI and SVI, Census tract rankings were grouped into 5 categories: very low (<20th percentile), low (20th percentile to <40th percentile), moderate (40th percentile to <60th percentile), high (60th percentile to <80th percentile), or very high (≥80th percentile) opportunity (COI) or vulnerability (SVI). Results: Among 20 677 children, 10 747 (52.0%) were male; 12 463 of 20 105 (62.0%) were White, and 16 036 of 20 333 (78.9%) were non-Hispanic. (Some data for race and ethnicity were missing.) Overall, 29.9% of children in the ECHO program resided in areas with the most advantageous characteristics. For example, at birth, 26.7% of children lived in areas with very high COI, and 25.3% lived in areas with very low SVI; in mid-childhood, 30.6% lived in areas with very high COI and 28.4% lived in areas with very low SVI. Linear mixed-effects models revealed that at every life stage, children who resided in areas with higher COI (vs very low COI) had lower mean BMI trajectories and lower risk of obesity from childhood to adolescence, independent of family sociodemographic and prenatal characteristics. For example, among children with obesity at age 10 years, the risk ratio was 0.21 (95% CI, 0.12-0.34) for very high COI at birth, 0.31 (95% CI, 0.20-0.51) for high COI at birth, 0.46 (95% CI, 0.28-0.74) for moderate COI at birth, and 0.53 (95% CI, 0.32-0.86) for low COI at birth. Similar patterns of findings were observed for children who resided in areas with lower SVI (vs very high SVI). For example, among children with obesity at age 10 years, the risk ratio was 0.17 (95% CI, 0.10-0.30) for very low SVI at birth, 0.20 (95% CI, 0.11-0.35) for low SVI at birth, 0.42 (95% CI, 0.24-0.75) for moderate SVI at birth, and 0.43 (95% CI, 0.24-0.76) for high SVI at birth. For both indices, effect estimates for mean BMI difference and obesity risk were larger at an older age of outcome measurement. In addition, exposure to COI or SVI at birth was associated with the most substantial difference in subsequent mean BMI and risk of obesity compared with exposure at later life stages. Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study, residing in higher-opportunity and lower-vulnerability neighborhoods in early life, especially at birth, was associated with a lower mean BMI trajectory and a lower risk of obesity from childhood to adolescence. Future research should clarify whether initiatives or policies that alter specific components of neighborhood environment would be beneficial in preventing excess weight in children.

  DOI

• AGA Institute and the Joint Task Force on Allergy-Immunology Practice Parameters Clinical Guidelines for the Management of Eosinophilic Esophagitis

  Gastroenterology · 2020 · 321 citations

  • Political Science
  • Medicine
  • Immunology
  DOI

Recent grants

• Consortium of Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease Researchers

  NIH · $3.7M · 2014–2026

• NIH Grant R01DK087789

  NIH · $1.8M · 2015

• NIH Grant R01AI062698

  NIH · $1.2M · 2010

Frequent coauthors

• Glenn T. Furuta

  Children's Hospital Colorado

  265 shared

• Marc E. Rothenberg

  National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

  259 shared

• Seema S. Aceves

  University of California, San Diego

  238 shared

• Sandeep K. Gupta

  Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis

  228 shared

• Antonella Cianferoni

  Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  221 shared

• Amanda B. Muir

  Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  212 shared

• Evan S. Dellon

  Wake Forest University

  205 shared

• Margaret H. Collins

  Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

  166 shared

Education

• Fellowship, Allergy-Immunology

  Children's Hospital

  1998

• Pediatric Residency, Pediatric

  Yale-New Haven Hospital

  1995

• MD PhD

  Mt. Sinai School Of Medicine

  1992

• AB, Chemistry

  Princeton Univeristy

  1985

Similar researchers at University of Pennsylvania

• John Q. Trojanowskih-296
• Craig B. Thompsonh-277
• Daniel J Raderh-236
• Carl H. Juneh-218
• M. Celeste Simonh-185