Promising SRP Researchers Receive KC Donnelly Externship Award

Five exceptional NIEHS-funded Superfund Research Program (SRP) trainees each received a 2013 KC Donnelly Externship Award Supplement to enrich their research in environmental health science. Now in its third year, the annual award was established to honor and celebrate environmental health researcher and Superfund grantee Kirby Cornwall (K.C.) Donnelly, Ph.D. The award supports SRP graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who are pursuing transdisciplinary research, and emphasizes the importance of research application and collaboration. The awardees perform their externship an institution different from the one they attend.

2013 Winners:

Audrey Bone is a graduate student at the Duke University SRP under the guidance of Richard Di Giulio, Ph.D. She will conduct a six-week externship at Oregon State University (OSU) where she will learn to use the zebrafish developmental toxicity bioassay.

Leah Chibwe is a graduate student at the OSU SRP under the guidance of Staci Simonich, Ph.D.  She will complete a three month externship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , where she will identify potentially genotoxic compounds in bioremediated soil, originally contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

Shohreh Farzan, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral researcher working with the Dartmouth Toxic Metals SRP under the guidance of Margaret Karagas, Ph.D. She will carry out a three-month externship with the Columbia University SRP to examine the role of arsenic exposure on blood pressure over time and in relation to cardiovascular disease related mortality.

Erin Madeen is a graduate student in the OSU SRP under the mentorship of David Williams, Ph.D. A three-week externship at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will allow her to conduct analysis of high molecular weight PAHs in blood and urine from human volunteers.

James Rice, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral research associate with Brown SRP investigator Eric Suuberg, Ph.D. Rice will lead a passive sampler study to monitor site contamination at the Fisherville Mill Brownfield site in Grafton, Mass. under his three-month externship with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Donnelly, who died in 2009, had a distinguished career at the Texas A&M University and was a dedicated mentor to his students and post-doctoral researchers, instilling in them the importance of applying their knowledge and findings to improve the health of communities exposed to environmental contaminants. For more information about the winners, visit the 2013 KC Donnelly Winners page.