NIEHS Arsenic Workshop Panel Discussion Webinar Series

Agenda

Speaker Biographies and Participant List

Dr. Andrea M. Allan, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Neurosciences at the University of New Mexico. Her laboratory explores the neurotoxic effects of prenatal exposures using a mouse model. She is interested in evaluating the role that the central glucocorticoid signaling pathway is programmed by prenatal arsenic exposure setting the neural systems on an altered developmental course. Her recent work investigates the role of developmental insults on epigenetic machinery and how these changes relate to behavior and neurochemistry in the offspring.

Dr. Maria Argos, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health. She is an environmental and molecular epidemiologist whose research focuses on the association between arsenic and adult chronic diseases. Her work has also focused on the molecular impacts of arsenic on the transcriptome and epigenome as well as interplay with the genome, and how this leads to disease development. Dr. Argos has spent several years investigating the cancer prevention effects of selenium and vitamin E in a chronically arsenic exposed population. She is an investigator on the Columbia University Superfund Research Program's Health Effects of Arsenic Longitudinal Study (HEALS), a longitudinal cohort study of arsenic-exposed adults living in Araihazar, Bangladesh. Adults in the HEALS study have been followed since 2000 to determine the impact of arsenic exposure on chronic diseases and the underlying mechanisms of toxicity.

Dr. Luz Maria Del Razo, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Toxicology at Center for Research and Advanced Studies, National Polytechnic Institute (Cinvestav), Mexico City. From 2000, she was Titular Professor with tenure and currently she is the head of the Department of Toxicology at Cinvestav-IPN. She received her doctorate degree in toxicology from the Cinvestav in 1997, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in US, EPA and UNC Chapel Hill. She completed undergraduate work in chemistry in National Polytechnic Institute in 1979. She has over 15 years of experience in scientific toxicology, she is particularly interested in to evaluate the health effects of exposure to arsenic and fluoride evaluating in a variety of organ systems including the liver, brain, heart and kidney toxic injury, elucidating new biomarkers of toxicity, and understanding mechanisms of arsenic, metals and fluoride toxicity; her research interests include the role of antioxidants and antioxidant enzymes in responses to the oxidative stress induced by exposure to metals and nanomaterials. Dr. Del Razo has co-authored over 75 peer-reviewed publications and 25 book chapters. She is heavily involved with students both in teaching and in mentoring of masters, doctoral, and postdoctoral trainees in the area of exposure to environmental toxins associated with the developmental of chronic degenerative diseases.

Mr. Eric Ditzel, B.S., is a Graduate Research Assistant in Dr. Todd Camenisch's laboratory at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy. He has a B.S. from the Ohio State where he majored in biology with a focus on physiology and minored in military history. After graduating, he had two internships at the Procter & Gamble Company in Product Safety and Regulatory Affairs where he redesigned, organized, and analyzed a research database containing over 40 years of P&G research on product and environmental safety; researched historical toxicological testing methods in consumer products; and mined existing in vitro genetic toxicology data on hair dyes to streamline the safety assessment process of new chemicals without the use of in vivo testing. Eric's current work in the Camenisch lab includes: defining the link between low dose inorganic arsenic exposure during in utero and early life with the development and pathogenesis of the cardiometabolic syndrome; deciphering the role of the transcription factor Nrf2 on the sensitivity of epicardial cells to arsenic and how this may lead to abnormalities in the coronary vasculature; and determining which developmental pathways are altered by arsenic and arsenic metabolites with a particular focus on cardiovascular development and dysfunction. Eric's research is funded by grants from the Superfund Research Program Training grant and from the NIEHS Training grant in Environmental Toxicology of Complex Diseases.

Dr. Badawi M. Dweik, Ph.D., possesses more than 20 years of extensive experience and a broad background in chemical/electrochemical engineering systems and technologies. His responsibilities have included serving as Principal Investigator/Project Manager and Program Manager in areas of electrochemical sensors, fuel cells, water electrolyzers, electrochemical reactors and energy devices. His current research at Giner, Inc. (Newton, MA), focuses on issues involving monitoring contaminants in the environment and the removal of contaminants from water. Currently, Dr. Dweik serves as the program leader and Principal Investigator on multiple projects for the development of electrochemical sensors for monitoring species in aqueous medium, including heavy metals in reclaimed water for NASA, pesticides in the surface and ground water for USDA, heavy metals in urine samples for NIH, and metals in water and soil for DOE.

Dr. Karin Engström, Ph.D., is currently conducting research is on the genetic influence on metal metabolism and toxicity. She received her doctoral degree at Lund University where she currently works as a Postdoc in the molecular biology group at Occupational and Environmental Medicine. She is mainly focusing on the handling of big data statistic and bioinformatics analyses. Her research has mainly been focused on the genetic influence on arsenic metabolism at cohorts in Argentina and Bangladesh, but she has also been involved in project about inorganic mercury, mercury, cadmium and lithium.

Dr. Scott Fendorf, Ph.D., is the Huffington Professor of Earth Science, Chair of the Earth System Science Department, and a Senior Fellow in the Woods Institute at Stanford University. He received his B.S. degree from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, his M.S. from UC Davis, and his Ph.D. from the University of Delaware. His research is broadly focused on processes controlling water quality and nutrient/element cycling in soils. He is a leading figure deciphering the distribution and processes responsible for the arsenic-induced groundwater crisis of Asia. His research group examines the chemical environments that develop as a result of both biotic and abiotic processes, and they strive to account for the physical complexity and hydrology of natural settings. He and Alexander van Geen were the founding organizers of the Arsenic in Groundwater of Southern Asia Conference series, and he is an original member and organizer of the Telluride Iron Biogeochemistry meetings.

Dr. Carol Folt, Ph.D., took office as the University of North Carolina's 11th Chancellor on July 1, 2013. Dr. Folt received her Bachelor's Degree at the University of California at Santa Barbara in aquatic biology and a Master's Degree in biology. She received her Doctorate in ecology from the University of California at Davis and did postdoctoral work at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station of Michigan State University, and then joined the Dartmouth faculty in 1983 as a Professor of Biological Sciences. She was appointed Associate Director of Dartmouth's Toxic Metals Research Program in 1998, and two years later became Associate Director of the Center for Environmental Health Sciences. In 2001, she was appointed Dean of Graduate Studies and Associate Dean of the Faculty for Interdisciplinary Programs. She was promoted to Dean of the Faculty in 2004, tapped as acting provost in 2009, and named provost in 2010. As Interim President of Dartmouth College from 2012-2013, Folt helped identify opportunities for greater collaboration across schools to enhance academic quality and competitiveness, oversaw growth in global partnerships, and augmented support for faculty, student and community entrepreneurship and technological innovation. She spearheaded a year-long focus on the arts, co-education and the future of higher education. As provost, she led the first strategic planning process, engaging hundreds of faculty, staff and students. Following the economic downturn, she co-led efforts to resolve a $100-million budget gap. Folt's research has focused on the effects of dietary mercury and arsenic on human and ecosystem health, salmonid fisheries management and restoration, and global climate change. She and colleagues developed new technologies to assess mercury exposure and formed regional, national and international partnerships to shape public policy for safer waters. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is an internationally recognized environmental scientist and award-winning teacher.

Dr. Mary Gamble, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. Her research has focused on nutritional biochemistry at both basic and applied levels. Her earlier work on vitamin A metabolism included studies on proteins involved in retinoid transport and in the generation of transcriptionally active retinoic acid metabolites. Dr. Gamble's current work focuses primarily on nutrient/environment interactions in population-based studies in Bangladesh where more than 35 million people are chronically exposed to arsenic-contaminated drinking water and folate deficiency is common. Once ingested, inorganic arsenic undergoes hepatic methylation via folate-mediated one-carbon metabolism which facilitates urinary arsenic excretion. Dr. Gamble's work has demonstrated that folic acid supplementation to folate-deficient adults increases arsenic methylation and substantially lowers blood arsenic concentrations. Additional work is focused on the role of folate and other nutrients in arsenic-induced epigenetic dysregulation.

Dr. Mary Lou Guerinot, Ph.D., is the Ronald and Deborah Harris Professor in the Sciences at Dartmouth College. She earned her bachelor's degree in biology at Cornell University and her Ph.D. in biology from Dalhousie University, followed by postdoctoral studies at the University of Maryland and at the DOE–MSU Plant Research Laboratory. At Dartmouth, where she rose through the ranks to full professor, she has served as chair of the Department of Biological Sciences, as Associate Dean of the Faculty for the Sciences and as Vice Provost. She has also served as a member of the Advisory Committee for Biological Sciences at the National Science Foundation, is a Past President of the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and ASPB. She has served as Chair of the Biological Sciences section of AAAS, as Chair of the Board of Trustees for ASPB and as associate editor for Plant, Cell and Environment. She is currently on the Board of Directors for the Boyce Thompson Institute. She is a recipient of the Dartmouth Graduate Mentoring Award and the Dennis R. Hoagland Award from ASPB. Professor Guerinot is a molecular geneticist whose principal expertise and research interests are in the area of metal transport and regulation of gene expression by metals. For most of the world, plants are the major point of entry for metals into the food chain, so her work is laying the foundation for crops that offer sustainable solutions for malnutrition and for decreasing exposure to toxic metals.

Dr. Megan Hall, Sc.D., is an epidemiologist interested in the intersection between nutritional and environmental epidemiology. Her current research focuses on how nutritional factors may modify the health effects of environmental exposures. She is currently applying this paradigm to study nutritional influences on arsenic detoxification in Bangladesh. Dr. Hall collaborates with the Columbia University Superfund Research Program and was awarded a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence award in 2010 to investigate how several nutrients interact to influence the methylation of both arsenic and genomic DNA. Using both observational and intervention studies, the overall goal of her research is to identify low-risk nutritional interventions for the reduction of adverse health effects associated with environmental exposures.

Dr. Albert Juhasz, Ph.D., is an Associate Research Professor at the Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation (CERAR), University of South Australia. Albert has been involved in environmental research for over 20 years, leading both fundamental and applied aspects of contaminant bioavailability, bioaccessibility and bioremediation research. Since 2003, Albert has been at the forefront of human health exposure research which has resulted in a number of key publications on in vivo and in vitro approaches for the measurement-prediction of arsenic, cadmium and lead relative bioavailability in contaminated soils and edible crops. He has co-authored guidance on contaminant bioavailability-bioaccessibility in order to address data gaps in the National Environmental Protection Measure for the Assessment of Site Contamination (Australia). In addition, he is an active member of both the Bioaccessibility Research Group of Europe (BARGE) and Bioaccessibility Research Canada (BARC).

Dr. Molly Kile, Ph.D., is an environmental epidemiologist whose research focuses on understanding how exposures to chemicals influence human health. She received her doctoral degree from Harvard School of Public Health where she began her research on the effects of arsenic exposure and human health and she is currently an Assistant Professor at the College of Public Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State University. The majority of her research to date has been evaluating the health effects associated with arsenic exposure. She been involved with many epidemiological studies conducted in Bangladesh that have looked at a variety of health outcomes including skin lesions, reproductive outcomes, neurodevelopmental outcomes, and metabolic diseases. Her research has also examined host-factors that influence susceptibility to arsenic exposure and the effect of in utero exposure to arsenic on epigenetic processes.

Dr. Margaret Kurzius-Spencer, Ph.D., M.P.H., has been an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Section of Medical and Molecular Genetics, at the University of Arizona, College of Medicine, with a joint appointment in the College of Public Health since 2013. The majority of her experience and training is in environmental, respiratory and nutritional epidemiology. She has had extensive experience in planning, coordinating, data management and analysis aspects of diverse population studies in Tucson, Phoenix, Mexico and Alaska. The focus of her doctoral research was on modeling the effects of dietary arsenic and nutrient intake on urinary arsenic biomarkers in four populations. This research raised critical questions about the adequacy of the existing arsenic residue databases and sparked a passion for further research into the sources and metabolism of the different arsenic compounds in food and the interaction between arsenic, other toxins and nutrient intake and specific health outcomes. Her current research projects involve modeling the relation between exposure to arsenic and cadmium and obesity-related outcomes; geospatial modeling of groundwater arsenic and prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID); behavioral and developmental features in children with ASD with or without co-occurring ID; and several new areas related to developmental disorders. She states that she is fortunate in her current position to work in close collaboration with experts in the field of pediatrics, developmental disabilities, environmental health, epidemiology, toxicology, nutrition and public health.

Dr. Miranda Loh, Sc.D., is an Assistant Professor at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona. Her research involves studying human exposures and risks from environmental hazards. She currently leads the Metals Exposure Study in Homes (MESH), a part of the University of Arizona's Superfund Research Program. MESH examines biomarkers and environmental measures of exposure to metals in the communities near the Iron King Mine and Humboldt Smelter Superfund site in Arizona. Additionally, Dr. Loh has worked on well water arsenic and its relationship with toenail samples in an area of high groundwater arsenic contamination. Dr. Loh's research interests include exposure simulation modeling and risk assessment. Prior to joining the University of Arizona, Dr. Loh was a researcher at the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Finland. Dr. Loh completed her doctorate in environmental health at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Kun Lu, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Georgia. His research interests include: integration of systems-biology approaches to characterize and understand the complex interactions between microbiome ecology and environmental exposure and human disease; development and application of integrated Omics-based methods (i.e., metabolomics, proteomics and lipidomics) to discover novel biomarkers Ph.D. and disturbed signaling pathways for environmental exposure; and development of highly sensitive mass spectrometry methods and novel biomarkers for environmental toxicants and oxidative stress. His most recent publications include "Arsenic Exposure Perturbs the Gut Microbiome and Its Metabolic Profile in Mice: An Integrated Metagenomics and Metabolomics Analysis" (Environ Health Perspect. 2014 Jan 10), "Gut Microbiome Perturbations Induced by Bacterial Infection Affect Arsenic Biotransformation " (Chem Res Toxicol. 2013 Dec 16;26(12):1893-903), and "Gut Microbiome Phenotypes Driven by Host Genetics Affect Arsenic Metabolism" (Chem Res Toxicol. 2014 Jan 8; 10.1021/tx400454z). Dr. Lu received his Ph.D, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2009 and was a Postdoctoral Associate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 2010-2012.

Dr. Raina M. Maier, Ph.D., is a Professor of Environmental Microbiology in the Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science at the University of Arizona. Dr. Maier received her undergraduate degree in Biology/Chemistry from the University of Minnesota, her Ph.D. in Microbiology from Rutgers University, and trained as a post-doctoral research associate in Biochemistry at Iowa State University. Dr. Maier's research and teaching program focuses on understanding how we can exploit microorganisms and their activities and products to benefit human health and the environment. In addition to her research program, Dr. Maier serves as the Director of the University of Arizona NIEHS Superfund Research Program and also as the Director for the University of Arizona Center for Environmentally Sustainable Mining. She has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers and the textbook "Environmental Microbiology".

Dr. Carmen Marsit, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology Section of Biostatistics and Epidemiology in the Department of Community and Family Medicine. He is also the Co-Director of the Program in Cancer Epidemiology in the Norris Cotton Comprehensive Cancer Center at Dartmouth. He joined the faculty at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in 2011. Prior to Dartmouth, Carmen was an assistant professor in the Departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Community Health (Epidemiology) at Brown University. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from Lafayette College, and a  in the Biological Sciences in Public Health, focused on Cancer Biology, from Harvard University. Carmen was a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health, where he gained training and interest in molecular epidemiology and epigenetics. His work in epigenetics has been focused on understanding how environmental exposures impact the epigenome. His research program has examined epigenetic mechanisms in human cancer as well as the importance of epigenetic regulation in human development. He has successfully developed the Rhode Island Child Health Study, a birth cohort designed to examine the impact of placental epigenetic variation on early life neurobehavioral and other health outcomes, and is a project leader in the Dartmouth Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Center where he is examining the impact of arsenic on the infant epigenome.

Dr. Mary Kay O'Rourke, Ph.D., has spent more than thirty years investigating aspects of exposure to environmental agents. She is currently an Associate Professor of Public Health and a Research Associate Professor in Medicine at the University of Arizona. Her initial work in the UA Respiratory Sciences Center addressed exposure to pollen, mold, house dust mites and atmospheric antigens and human symptom response using exposure assessment approaches. Mid-career she examined exposure to metals and OP pesticides. Major efforts include the National Human Exposure Assessment Survey in Arizona, the Arizona Board Survey, and the Binational Arsenic Exposure Survey. Recent work evaluates exposure to arsenic through food and water consumption. She has extensive experience in designing and implementing exposure assessment field surveys, quality assurance programs and the data processing protocols for large studies.. Dr. O'Rourke served as the Secretary General of the International Association for Aerobiology (IAA) from 1990-1994, an IAA councilor from 1994-98, Pan American Aerobiology Secretary -Treasurer (1988-92) and PAAA Conference Chair (1999). She has been a member of the International Society for Exposure Science since 1995 and served as a Councilor from 1999-2002 and Co-chair of the annual conference in Tucson, AZ in 2005.

Dr. Matt Polizzotto, Ph.D., joined North Carolina State University's Soil Science department in late 2010 as an Assistant Professor. He studied Music and Environmental Science as an undergraduate at the University of Rochester, and received his Ph.D. in Soil and Environmental Biogeochemistry at Stanford University. Following a post-doc at Stanford, Matt received an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship and served as a Water Quality Advisor at the US Agency for International Development. At NC State, Matt studies hydrogeochemical processes controlling contaminants in soils, sediments, and natural waters, with a particular research focus on arsenic pollution and other water quality issues in Southern Asia. Matt also teaches integrated science-policy courses that explore the roles of soils in global grand challenges.

Dr. Barry P. Rosen, Ph.D., is currently the Associate Dean for Basic Research and Graduate Programs at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University in Miami, Florida. In 2009 he joined the FIU College of Medicine from Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan, where he was Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Chair of the Department for 22 years. Dr. Rosen received his B.S. from Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut in 1965 and his M.S. (1968) and Ph.D. (1969) from the University of Connecticut. After an NIH postdoctoral fellow at Cornell University, in 1972 he joined the faculty at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, where he rose from Assistant Professor to Professor. In 1987 he took the Chair at Wayne State, and under his stewardship the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology took the lead in structural biology at Wayne State University. Professor Rosen is an internationally recognized expert in the field of heavy metal transport and detoxification, specializing in the molecular mechanisms of arsenic detoxification. He has published nearly 300 papers, reviews and books and is the holder of a prestigious MERIT Award from the National Institutes of Health. He is recipient of numerous awards, including Basil O'Connor Award from the March of Dimes, Maryland Distinguished Young Scientist Award, Josiah Macy, Jr. Faculty Scholar Award, Gershenson Distinguished Faculty Fellow Award, Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award and Lawrence Weiner Medical Alumni Award. He has been on national and international panels at NIH, NSF, and American Heart Association, and on multiple editorial boards. Dr. Rosen was selected to be a Distinguished University Professor, the highest honor awarded to a Wayne State University faculty member. He has served as both President of the Wayne State University Academy of Scholars and President of the Association of Medical and Graduate Departments of Biochemistry.

Dr. Craig Steinmaus, M.D., M.P.H., is a board-certified physician in Occupational and Environmental Medicine with over 10 years of clinical experience; an Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB); an Assistant Professor at the School of Medicine and Global Health Sciences Program at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF); and a Public Health Medical Officer III (Epidemiology) in the California Environmental Protection Agency's (Cal EPA) Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA). He has been the past recipient of a mentored K23 grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences involving research on arsenic. Since then he has been involved in epidemiologic research on the health effects of chemical contaminants in drinking water, including over eight years of research experience in Chile and over 45 publications on the health effects of arsenic. He has been the Project Director or Principal Investigator (PI) for six NIH-funded studies on arsenic and other contaminants with a focus on factors conferring susceptibility including diet, genetics, metabolism, and early life exposure. He currently teaches three graduate level courses on occupational and environmental epidemiology at UCB and UCSF, has served on several NIH and CDC study sections, was a panelist for US EPA's recent Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) workshop on arsenic, and was an invited speaker at the National Academy of Science's 2013 Inorganic Arsenic Workshop.

Dr. Alexander Van Geen, Ph.D., is a geochemist and joined Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in 1994, after completing his Ph.D. (1989) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in Oceanography and post-doctoral fellowships in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University and with the Water Resources Division of the US Geological Survey in Menlo Park. His research interest spans the reconstruction of past climate change from ocean sediment cores to the health effects on children of exposure to lead from mine tailings. He coordinates earth-science and mitigation efforts under Columbia's Superfund Research Program on the health effects and geochemistry of arsenic contained in US and Bangladesh groundwater. Van Geen has initiated complementary studies of household responses to arsenic mitigation in South Asia and the contamination of groundwater with microbial pathogens. He is a firm believer in the more widespread use of field kits by non-specialists to reduce exposure to environmental toxins, particularly in developing countries. He holds a Lamont Research Professor appointment and has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers.

Dr. Julie Beth Zimmerman, Ph.D., is the Donna L. Dubinsky Associate Professor jointly appointed to the Department of Chemical Engineering, Environmental Engineering Program and the School of Forestry and Environment. Her research interests broadly focus on green chemistry and engineering with specific emphasis on green downstream processing and life cycle assessment of algal biomass for fuels and value-added chemicals as well as novel biobased sorbents for purification of drinking water and remediation of industrial wastewater. Other ongoing focus areas include the design of safer chemicals from first principles and the implications of nanomaterials on human health and the environment.