The Department of Enviromental Health Sciences has a diverse range of research areas, which focus on the adverse influence of the environment on human health and with controlling these influences. In this regard, the Department considers “environment” in its broadest sense, including the natural, built and social environments. Our faculty's research focuses on agents in the environment, including biological, chemical and physical environmental agents. The Department engages in a number of activities within this traditional approach, including studies of the sources and environmental distribution of such agents; human exposure to such agents; the body’s response at the molecular, cellular, organ system- and whole-body levels; environmental risk assessment; and prevention and intervention strategies (including environmental engineering, law, policy and communications solutions).
Click on the faculty member's name to learn more about their research.
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| Shyam S. Biswal, PhD
Associate Professor | Dr. Biswal's research focuses on understanding the host factor, Nrf2 that regulates stress response transcriptional program and protects against a range of pathological process (oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis) in diseases such as COPD, lung cancer, and sepsis and develop a novel approach for intervention of these inflammatory diseases by targeting this host factor. | John D. Groopman, PhD
Anna M. Baetjer Professor | Dr. Groopman’s research involves the development, validation and application of molecular biomarkers of exposure, dose, and effect from environmental carcinogens to high-risk populations. The environmental carcinogens studied include agents that are naturally occurring in the diet as well as those produced as a result of cooking practices. A major emphasis of the research has been in the elucidation of the role of aflatoxins, a common contaminate of the food supply, in the induction of liver cancer in high-risk populations living in Asia and Africa. | Brian S. Schwartz, MD
Professor | Dr. Schwartz's research focuses on the health effects of chemicals on the central nervous system, land use, built environment, the influence of "sprawl" on public health, the public health implications of climate change; the coming era of energy scarcity; sustainability challenges. | Ana Navas-Acien, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor | Dr. Navas-Acien is a physician-epidemiologist with a specialty in Preventive Medicine and Public Health and with a long-term interest in the health consequences of widespread environmental exposures. Based on an epidemiologic approach, her research investigates chronic health effects of arsenic, selenium, lead, cadmium and other trace metals. |
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