Edward Nardell, MD
About Edward Nardell, MD
Pulmonologist with a special interest in tuberculosis; trained in pulmonary medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital with additional research training at Boston University School of Medicine. While at Boston City Hospital, Dr. Nardell became director of tuberculosis control for the City of Boston. In 1981 he became chief of pulmonary medicine and director of tuberculosis control for the city of Cambridge, positions he held until 2005. His principal academic appointment is as associate professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, with secondary parallel appointments in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine and Harvard School of Public Health. In the early 1980's, Dr Nardell was also appointed medical director of tuberculosis control for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, a position he held for 18 years. In 2002 he joined Partners In Health as Director of Tuberculosis Research. In 2005 he left Cambridge Hospital to assume a full-time research position in the Division of Global Health Equity, Brigham & Women's Hospital. His research interests include the control of multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in Peru, Russia, and other high-burden countries, with a special research interest in airborne TB transmission and control. Dr. Nardell is currently conducting a research project in South Africa studying the transmission of MDR-TB using large numbers of guinea pigs to quantify the infectiousness of MDR-TB patients and the effectiveness of various control interventions, including ultraviolet germicidal irradiation. [Edward Nardell] With funding from WHO, NIH, USAID, and the Gates Foundation, Dr. Nardell organized and co-chaired the first two-week post-graduate course of its kind designed to build technical capacity for implm in high-burden countries, “Engineering Methods to Control Airborne Infections – an International Perspective,”. He is past-president of the Massachusetts Thoracic Society and the North American Region, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. (Source: http://www.brighamandwomens.org/socialmedicine/Nardellbio.aspx)
PubMed Articles: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&cmd=search&term=Nardell+E+&log$=activity
Role(s) / Profession(s)
- Academic
- Physician
Organization
- Brigham and Women's Hospital, Division of Global Health Equity
- Harvard Medical School
- Harvard School of Public Health
- Partners In Health - PIH
Work Location(s)
- United States
Edward's Communities
Language(s)
- English
Recent Contributions
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Edward Nardell, MD started a discussion "Controversies in TB Transmission Control: What’s in a name? Should it be TB infection control, transmission control, or exposure control?" in the TB Infection Control community.
The term infection control is widely used and we all know what it means. It places TB infection control squarely within the context of other infection control activities in congregate settings. However, TB is among a minority of contagious diseases where infection and disease are not the same. In high burden parts of the world TB infection is almost universal among adults. Does it make sense to talk about infection control when most staff are ...
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Edward Nardell, MD started a discussion "Infectious Dose of TB" in the TB Infection Control community.
Professor Mehtar raised the issue of the infectious dose of TB in relation to respiratory protection (how much protection is enough?). I would like to address that question briefly since it is a subject I have thought about quite a bit. First, let me say we don't know the infectious dose of TB for humans, and it probably varies greatly. It might be just one infectious droplet nuclei containing a single virulent organism for some ...
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Edward Nardell, MD replied to "How long can one use a disposable personal respiratory protection (masks)" in the TB Infection Control community.
First, in response to Pia's question, I believe you are referring to disposable N95 respirators or the European standard equivalent. Paul Jensen, one of the 3 moderators of the group, will make an more "official" response soon, taking into account manufacturer recommendations, etc. I will make some preliminary personal comments here that may or may not be consistent with what he says later, and as always, we should discuss differences in this forum. The reality ...
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Edward Nardell, MD replied to "Can I check the performance of my UVGI system with air sampling?" in the TB Infection Control community.
Dear Menno, Thanks for your question. It is not possible to air sample for TB using conventional air sampling methods involving culture - many have tried and failed. The reason is that the airborne concentration of TB, on average, is very, very low whereas every cubic meter of air contains tens of thousands of other, environmentally hardy spores, atypical mycobacteria, and other organisms that will outgrow TB on the culture plate resulting in cultures of ...
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Edward Nardell, MD replied to "TB and the Rheology of sputum: alcohol, tobacco smoking, and crowded bars" in the TB Infection Control community.
Kevin Fennelly at New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry is interested in sputum viscosity and other physical properties as a factor in "source strength". I am hoping he will respond. Generally, as you probably know, less viscous sputum is thought to be easier to aerosolize. It is an interesting thought about alcohol, but I doubt there is research on that. My impression as a pulmonologist is that there are really no good expectorants out ...
Recent Recommendations
- None at this time.
