Dr. Rundle's research focuses on the determinants of sedentary lifestyles and obesity and the health related consequences of these conditions. Dr. Rundle Co-directs the Built Environment and Health Research Group (beh.columbia.edu), a trans-disciplinary team of researchers studying how neighborhood built and social environments influence health, particularly physical activity and obesity risk. His work on urban design and neighborhood-level effects on health has been used as part of the scientific rationale for the New York City “Active Design Guidelines and for the Mayor's Food Policy Task Force's Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH) initiative. His work has been nationally recognized and he and his team are inaugural members of the American Institute of Architects Design and Health Research Consortium. Dr. Rundle also Co-directs the Mailman School of Public Health Obesity Prevention Initiative and heads the Childhood Obesity Research Project within the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health. His work within the Children's Center focuses on the role of prenatal and early life exposures to pollutants as risk factors for childhood obesity. He has a long standing interest in prostate cancer research, particularly the effects of obesity on prostate cancer detection, incidence and outcomes. He has collaborated with researchers at the Henry Ford Health System to study prostate cancer risk among men whose initial prostate biopsy revealed benign changes. Within the Department Dr. Rundle teaches the "Critical Thinking in Epidemiology" and "Environmental Epidemiology" courses, serves on the Methods Exam and Curriculum committees and serves as Cluster Leader for the Social Epidemiology Cluster (www.socialepidemiology.net).