Email

lea.steele@bcm.edu

Positions

Professor, Beth K. and Stuart C. Yudofsky Chair in Behavioral Neuroscience

Neuropsychiatry
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX US

Addresses

7515 Main Street (Office)

Suite 300
Houston, TX 77030
United States
Phone: (713) 798-7668

Education

PhD from University of Texas School of Public Health, UT Health Sciences Center - Houston

Houston, Texas United States

Fellowship at U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Infectious Disease

Atlanta, Georgia United States

BA from Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois United States

Professional Interests

• Complex health conditions affecting military personnel after warzone deployment
• Epidemiologic and clinical research on the health of 1991 Gulf War veterans; prevalence, etiology, pathobiology, and treatment of Gulf War illness
• Environmental exposures and chronic neurological disease; gene-exposure interactions in human biological response to neurotoxicants
• Research methods for assessing complex etiologic factors (chemical and biological exposures, genetic factors, psychosocial factors) in chronic disease

Professional Statement

Dr. Lea Steele is a neuroepidemiologist whose current research is focused on the long-term health consequences of military service in the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War. Active projects include studies to determine the neurological, immune, endocrine, and hematological processes that drive the symptoms of Gulf War illness, an innovative study to develop a diagnostic test for this condition, and a large project to evaluate the current health of Gulf War-era veterans nationwide.

Websites

Selected Publications

• White, Roberta, Lea Steele, James O'Callaghan et al. "Recent Research on Gulf War Illness and Other Health Problems in Veterans of the 1991 Gulf War: Effects of Toxicant Exposures During Deployment." Cortex. 2016;74:449-475. Pubmed PMID: 26493934
• Steele, Lea, Mary Gerkovich, Antonio Sastre, and Mary Cook. "Butyrylcholinesterase Genotype and Enzyme Activity in Relation to Gulf War Illness: Preliminary Evidence of Gene-Exposure Interaction from a Case-Control Study of 1991 Gulf War Veterans." Environmental Health. 2015;14:4. Pubmed PMID: 25575675
• Steele, Lea, Antonio A. Sastre, Mary M. Gerkovich, Mary Cook "Complex Factors in the Etiology of Gulf War Illness: Wartime Exposures and Risk Factors in Veteran Subgroups.." Environmental Health Perspectives. 2012;120:112-118. Pubmed PMID: 21930452
• Steele, L "Prevalence and Patterns of Gulf War Illness in Kansas veterans: association of symptoms with characteristics of person, place, and time of military service.." Am J Epidemiol. 2000;152(10):992-1002. Pubmed PMID: 11092441