FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel Members
Members are appointed by the Administrator of EPA from nominations provided by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Members serve staggered terms of appointment, generally of three years duration. Current FIFRA SAP panel members are listed below.
The following list of FIFRA SAP members is current as of July 19, 2024.
Chair
Gaylia Jean Harry, PhD
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Affiliation: Group Leader, Neurotoxicology Laboratory, National Toxicology Program, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NTP/NIEHS), Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
Expertise: Mode of action of environmental agents on the nervous system with focused interest on the developing nervous system, neurotoxicology, neuropathology, behavioral assessments, neuroinflammation, and developmental processes using in vivo and in vitro models
Education: PhD, in Experimental Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University; MS, in Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University; BS, in Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia
Experience Summary: Dr. Harry is the Head of the Neurotoxicology Laboratory at NTP/NIEHS, with over 30 years of experience in the field of neurotoxicology. She has held faculty affiliate positions in the Biomedical Sciences Program and Toxicology Program at University of North Carolina, and the Toxicology Program at Duke University (1992-2019). She serves on the editorial board for Neurotoxicology Research, Molecular Toxicology, and ASN Neuro and as associate editor for Neurotoxicology (2004-2019) and Environmental Health Perspectives (2015-2019). She has co-edited 5 books on neurotoxicology and >125 papers. She has served as an expert reviewer for multiple OECD guideline documents for neurotoxicity (1992-2004). Dr. Harry's primary research interests currently focus on the role of the brain immune cells in regulating brain development and repair and how chemical exposure can alter the normal function of these cells and the neuroimmune system leading to dysfunction and altered brain development and neurodegeneration. Other research interests lie in how to refine neurobehavioral testing methods for neurotoxicity and how to potentially translate findings from in vitro models to adverse effects in vivo.
Members
Veronica J. Berrocal, PhD
University of California, Irvine
Affiliation: Professor, Department of Statistics, University of California, Irvine, California
Expertise: Statistics; spatial and spatio-temporal statistics; statistical methods for environmental exposure assessment; spatial and environmental epidemiology
Education: PhD in Statistics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; MSc, Statistics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan; Laurea in Mathematics, Universita' "La Sapienza", Roma, Italy; Degree of Etudes Approfondis (DEA) en Mathematiques, Universite' "Joseph Fourier", now part of Universite' Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
Experience Summary: Dr. Veronica Berrocal is an Associate Professor in the Department of Statistics at University of California, Irvine (UCI). She joined UCI in Fall 2012 after having spent 9 years as faculty at the University of Michigan in the Department of Biostatistics (first as Assistant Professor, then as Associate Professor), from 2010 to 2019. Dr. Berrocal's research focuses on the development of statistical methods to characterize individual's exposure to environmental risk factors (e.g. air pollution, weather, climate, built environment, etc.), and in estimating the effect of environmental exposure on health. Because of her research accomplishment in spatial and environmental statistics, particularly as it pertains to environmental exposure, Dr. Berrocal received the Early Investigator Award from the Section on Statistics and the Environment of the American Statistical Association in 2015. Dr. Berrocal served and/or is currently serving as part of the Editorial Board for: (i) the Journal of the American Statistical Association (2016-2018); (ii) the Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics (2011-2018); (iii) Bayesian Analysis (2018-present); (iv) Spatial Statistics (2021-present); and (v) the New England Journal of Statistics in Data Science (2021-present). She is also a statistical reviewer for Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open since 2018.
Thomas Hartung, MD, PhD
Johns Hopkins University
Affiliation: Doerenkamp-Zbinden-Chair for Evidence-based Toxicology, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland
Expertise: Toxicology; pharmacology; infectious diseases; immunology; engineering; public health; new approach methodologies; artificial intelligence
Education: PhD in Biochemical Pharmacology, Konstanz, Germany; MD, Tübingen, Germany; Diploma in Biochemistry, specialization toxicology, University of Tübingen, Germany
Experience Summary: Dr. Thomas Hartung is Professor and Chair with five academic appointments at Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University and University of Konstanz, Germany. He worked for seven years for the European Commission heading their validation body for alternative methods (ECVAM, 2002-2008). He has organized more than 60 workshops, and numerous international conferences (World Congresses for Alternative Methods, Pan American Conference for Alternative Methods, European Society of Toxicology In Vitro, Microphysiological Systems World Summits). He has more than 30 years of teaching experience. His toxicology classes on Coursera had more than 19,000 active learners. He is Field Chief Editor of Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and has numerous editorial appointments. He has authored more than 670 scientific publications with more than 47,000 citations (h-index 113; i.e., at least 113 papers that have each been cited at least 113 times).
Eunha Hoh, PhD
San Diego State University
Affiliation: Professor of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, California
Expertise: Environmental chemistry; fate and transport of contaminants; environmental monitoring; exposure assessment to wildlife and humans; novel contaminants; nontargeted chemical analysis
Education: PhD in Environmental Science, Indiana University Bloomington; MS in Environmental Science, Indiana University Bloomington; MS in Chemistry, Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST); BS in Chemistry, KAIST
Experience Summary: Dr. Eunha Hoh is a Professor of Environmental Health with 15 years of teaching and research on the investigation of diverse chemical pollutants in the environment and their impact on human health. Dr. Hoh has 23 years of experience in the analysis of trace levels of chemical contaminants in various sample matrices utilizing chromatography and mass spectrometry. This includes both the identification and quantification of organic compounds. She has developed a nontargeted analytical approach, and with that, she discovered and identified numerous previously unknown and novel contaminants and has implemented the technology on comprehensive contaminant analysis for environmental monitoring, exposure assessment, fate and transport, and remediation/treatment efficiency assessment. Dr. Hoh worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the field of food safety at the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service. She is an Advisory Board Member of Environmental Science and Technology Letters (2013-present).
Cheryl A. Murphy, PhD
Michigan State University
Affiliation: Professor, Director of Center for PFAS Research, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
Expertise: Ecological Toxicology, Adverse Outcome Pathways, Fish Physiology, Behavior
Education: PhD, Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; MS, Physiology and Cell Biology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta; BSc (Honors), Marine Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia
Experience Summary: Dr. Murphy is a professor of ecotoxicology with over 13 years of teaching and research experience on ecotoxicology and physiology of fishes at Michigan State University (MSU). Much of her research has contributed to the development of the adverse outcome pathway framework as a way to organize toxicological information across multiple levels of biological organization. She also completed postdoctoral studies at the University of Toronto which focused on the impacts of life history strategies on stress responses. She is an associate editor for the journal “Ecotoxicology” and has lead and participated in working groups related to improving the adverse outcome pathway framework including a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded working group through the National Institute of Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) titled “Dynamic models to link molecular perturbations to individual impacts for ecological risk assessment of chemical” (lead 2015-2017), two Pellston workshops and several other international working groups and workshops sponsored by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Science Foundation and International Organizations. She co-edited a volume “Systems biology approaches to advancing adverse outcome pathways for risk assessment” in 2018. Currently, she founded and is directing the MSU PFAS Center to instill systems toxicology approaches and new approaches to tackle the complicated PFAS contamination issue with support from a diverse multidisciplinary team of researchers within the MSU community and the State of Michigan.
Tara L. Sabo-Attwood, PhD
University of Florida
Affiliation: Professor and Chair, Department of Environmental and Global Health, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
Expertise: Research on understanding mechanisms of action driving health outcomes in aquatic and mammalian organisms following exposure to environmental contaminants. Endpoints include reproductive, neurological, and immune and a particular focus on inhalation and dietary exposure routes.
Education: PhD, Biomedical Science/Environmental Toxicology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida; BS, Medical Genetics/Medical Technology, University of Connecticut, Storrs Connecticut.
Experience Summary: Dr. Tara Sabo-Attwood is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Environmental and Global Heath and Associate Dean for the College of Public Health and Health Professions at the University of Florida. She has more than 15 years of expertise in environmental molecular toxicology with an emphasis on water and airborne contaminant exposures. Her research centers on elucidating how historical and emerging (asbestos, endocrine disruptors, nanomaterials) pollutants perturb molecular pathways that contribute to adverse health outcomes. Her work employs aquatic and mammalian models and spans laboratory approaches, field projects and clinical specimens. Her current work focusses on the innate immune system as a target of inhaled or dietary chemical exposure with an emphasis on susceptibility to pathogenic infections. She was named a Kavli Fellow in Nanotechnology by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). In addition to research, Dr. Sabo-Attwood participates on international and national advisory committees including the International Academy of Sciences, routinely participates on federal review panels, is an associate editor for Environmental Health Perspectives and is a long-standing member of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) and the Society of Toxicology (SOT), where she has held several leadership positions.
Lisa Truong, PhD, MBA
Oregon State University
Affiliation: Associate Professor of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology at Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon
Expertise: Research on utilizing the zebrafish model to build computational models to be less reliant on animal testing and conduct toxicity-testing based on toxicity pathways to identify bioactive chemicals. The research focuses on using computational toxicology.
Education: PhD, Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon; MSc, Environmental Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon; MBA, Organizational leadership, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon.
Experience Summary: Dr. Lisa Truong is an associate professor of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology. She has been conducting research in nanotoxicology and high through-put screening of chemicals in the universe using zebrafish for the last 16 years. Dr. Truong serves as the Oregon State University (OSU) P30 Director of the Zebrafish Biomedical Research Facility Core and Deputy Director of Sinnhuber Aquatic Research Laboratory. She serves as an editorial board member of Toxics (2020-present). Dr. Truong's research focuses on utilizing the zebrafish model to build computational models to focus on toxicity testing based on toxicity pathways. Her research has been disseminated in over 80 peer-reviewed manuscripts and 5 book chapters.