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Patricia Chulada, Ph.D., M.H.S. Patricia Chulada Ph.D.,M.H.S.
Health Scientist Administrator Tel (919) 541-7736 Fax (919) 541-3845 chulada@niehs.nih.gov P.O. Box 12233 Mail Drop K2-19 Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709 Delivery Instructions Patricia Chulada, Ph.D., M.H.S., is a Health Scientist Administrator (HSA) within the Office of the Scientific Director at NIEHS. In her undergraduate studies, Chulada trained as a medical technologist in the Allied Health Department at Merrimack College in Massachusetts and then worked at several large medical centers including Georgetown University Medical Center and the Ambulatory Care Research Facility at the NIH. In 1995, she received her Ph.D. in Toxicology/Genetics from North Carolina State University. During her third year of graduate work, she was invited to join the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society and later graduated from the program, summa cum laude. Her graduate research focused on distinguishing between the roles of the cyclooxygenases in cancer, inflammation, and gastric toxicity. Several years later, Chulada received a Masters of Health Sciences in Clinical Research from Duke University. There she statistically analyzed data subsets from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) to examine the relationship between breastfeeding and respiratory disease (asthma and recurrent wheeze) in children. Chulada established and directed several large projects to further clinical research at the NIEHS, including the Environmental Polymorphism Registry (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/databases/epr/index.cfm) (EPR) and the Clinical Research Support Services Program. The EPR is a large DNA biobank consisting of up to 20,000 participants from the greater Research Triangle Region that are available to scientists to screen for SNPs and other genetic mutations. Patient identifiers for the EPR participants are maintained in coded form, thus giving investigators the ability to re-contact subjects for follow-up studies. The Clinical Research Support Services Program is a large, multi-million dollar project to provide all types of clinical research support services to investigators within the NIEHS. Chulada is also the co-PI of the HEAL project (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/heal/) (Head off Environmental Asthma in Louisiana). The major aims of this project are to: 1) conduct an epidemiologic study to assess the nature of the environmental and psychosocial impacts of Hurricane Katrina and subsequent flooding on children in New Orleans; 2) examine the genetic and environmental risk factors for asthma, including genetic susceptibility to mold toxins, and gene-environment interactions; and 3) design, implement, and evaluate a case management program to meet the healthcare needs of children with asthma in this disrupted and highly challenging environment. | |