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Faculty
Biological Mechanisms Research Area
Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Research Area
Risk Modeling and Exposure Assessment Research Area
Health Law and Policy Research Area
Biological Mechanisms Research Area
Niladri Basu, PhD
Assistant Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Prof. Basu is an environmental toxicologist interested in the risk assessment of aquatic pollutants, development of neurochemical biomarkers, and the use of fish and wildlife as sentinels of human and environmental health hazards. Prof. Basu's research uses basic, applied, and innovative methods to evaluate ecosystem health. His current activities focus on: 1) the development, application, and validation of neurochemical biomarkers to assess sub-clinical, neurotoxic damage in wildlife and humans; 2) using fish and wildlife as sentinel organisms to study the etiology of diseases relevant to humans and ecosystems.
Martin Philbert, PhD
Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Senior Associate Dean for Research
Acting Director, U-M Risk Science Center
Prof. Philbert’s research activities include experimental neuropathology, nitrocompound-induced encephalopathies, mitochondrial mechanisms in non-neuronal cell death, and development of Nano-Optical Chemical Systems for in vivo physiology. He is engaged in the development of optical nanosensors for intracellular applications in in vitro toxicology and dynamic nanoplatforms for the early detection and treatment of brain cancers. His research group is among the first to perform toxicology tests on polymeric nanoparticles for a variety of applications.
Rudy Richardson, ScD, DABT
Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Dow Professor of Toxicology
Prof. Richardson studies mechanisms of neurological and autoimmune diseases and their modulation by environmental agents, genetics and age. Other interests include biomarkers of drug or toxicant exposure, physiological dysfunction and recovery, interactions of ligands with target macromolecules using kinetics, molecular modeling and mass spectrometry, and stereochemistry and structure-activity relationships of the toxic or therapeutic actions of organophosphorus compounds.
Chuanwu Xi, PhD
Assistant Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Prof. Xi’s research interests are in biofilms, water quality, advanced bio-imaging, biological processes, molecular microbial ecology, environmental genomics and integrated biosensors for environmental monitoring. Current research projects include: persistence and resistance of pathogens in drinking water distribution system; ecology of Mycobacteria in metalworking fluids and its associated biofilms; Optical Coherence Tomography imaging of biofilm development dynamics; spread of antibiotic resistance in biofilms in surface water and drinking water; and, control of biofilms-related infectious diseases using PDT nano-particles.
Occupational and Environmental
Epidemiology Research Area
Alfred Franzblau, MD
Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Associate Professor, Emergency Medicine
Associate Research Scientist, Center for Ergonomics
Prof. Franzblau’s research interests focus on various aspects of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, biological monitoring of chemical exposures, occupational neurological disease, occupational respiratory disease and environmental exposure assessment for dioxins and other persistent environmental chemicals.
David Garabrant, MD, MPH
Professor Emeritus, Environmental Health Sciences
Professor Emeritus, Epidemiology
Associate Professor Emeritus, Emergency Medicine
Founding Director, U-M Risk Science Center
Prof. Garabrant is a physician who has conducted research in occupational and environmental epidemiology for the past 25 years. He is board certified in internal medicine, occupational medicine, and preventive medicine. Recent projects include case-control study of pancreas cancer examining the roles of DDT and other chlorinated pesticides, familial cancer history, Helicobacter species, obesity, and smoking; dioxin exposure study examining exposure pathways by which environmental sources of dioxins contribute to serum dioxin levels; and cohort mortality study of automotive manufacturing workers examining the risks related to machining fluids and petroleum oils, welding fumes, and various other exposures.
Howard Hu, M.D., M.P.H., Sc.D.
Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Chair, Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Prof. Hu is a physician board-certified in internal medicine and occupational/environmental medicine who also holds a doctoral degree in epidemiology. He co-directs the Michigan-Harvard Metals Epidemiology Research Group with Dr. Robert Wright, which is engaged in multiple NIH- and EPA-funded epidemiologic investigations of the contribution of metals exposure and genetics to the causation of chronic diseases in adults and impaired development in children. Prof. Hu also co-directs, with Dr. Joseph Brain, a NIEHS/EPA-supported Children's Center for Environmental Health and Disease Prevention , a multidisciplinary program project focused on elucidating the potential toxicity of metal mixtures in mining waste. In addition to the toxicity of metals, Dr. Hu's research interests encompass clinical syndromes such as idiopathic environmental intolerances (chemical sensitivities) and emerging children's environmental health issues such as neonatal exposure to phthalates. He has authored or co-authored over 200 scientific papers and book chapters and co-edited or co-authored 7 books.
Risk Modeling and Exposure
Assessment Research Area
Olivier Jolliet, PhD
Associate Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Associate Director, U-M Risk Science Center
Prof. Jolliet's research and teaching programs aim to provide the scientific knowledge for assessing environmental risks and impacts of chemicals, in order to develop a flexible risk assessment framework, to model population-based exposure and intake fractions for outdoor and indoor chemical emissions in a consistent way, and to assess the life cycle risks, impacts and benefits related to new technologies and materials in order to prevent emissions and guide the development of these technologies.
Gerald Keeler, PhD
Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Professor, Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences
Prof. Keeler directs the Air Quality Laboratory (AQL) which presents a unique interdisciplinary approach to solving complex environmental problems, and for investigating fundamental scientific questions and processes. Research interests include the measurement and modeling of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), air pollution meteorology, whole ecosystem studies of the cycling of trace elements in the environment, exposure assessment for health studies, receptor modeling of environmental contaminants, atmospheric chemistry and deposition, and global change issues pertinent to environmental health. Present research focuses on the sources, transport, chemistry and deposition of HAPs in the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, and Florida Everglades.
Jerome Nriagu, PhD, DSc
Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Research Scientist, Center for Human Growth and Development
Prof. Nriagu's research and teaching programs center around three main issues: (i) sources, behavior, fate and effects of metals in the natural and contaminated environments; (ii) environmental justice and disproportionate exposure of communities to environmental pollutants; and (iii) environmental health problems in the developing countries. His work includes applied laboratory and field studies and has led to 28 books (authored/edited) and over 250 published articles.
James H. Vincent, Ph.D., D.Sc., FRSC
Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Prof. Vincent’s research has covered wide areas of environmental science, including aerosol science and fluid mechanics, occupational and environmental exposure assessment, and air pollution control. He is past chair of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Michigan, and currently remains active in a wide range of research areas.
Health Law and Policy Research Area
Peter Jacobson, JD, MPH
Professor, Department of Health Management and Policy
Prof. Jacobson’s current research interests focus on the relationship between law and health care delivery and policy, law and public health systems, and health care safety net services. Currently, he is working on projects involving public health ethics, fraud and abuse, and health care governance. Prof. Jacobson recently worked with the RAND Corporation on a project examining how the organization of public health systems affects preparedness efforts. He is the principal investigator on a project examining how communities in Michigan organize to provide mental health and diabetes care to uninsured populations.
Paula Lantz, PhD, MS
Professor and Chair, Department of Health Management and Policy
Director, RWJ Scholars in Health Policy Research Program
Research Professor, Institute for Social Research
Prof. Lantz's main areas of research interest are policy issues in women's health and child health, clinical preventive services (such as cancer screening and prenatal care), and social inequalities in health. Current research programs involve longitudinal national study of social disparities in health, population-based study of breast cancer treatment, and study of policy issues in the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program.
David Mendez, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Health Management and Policy
Prof. Mendez’s research is in the areas of smoking control, product and service quality on demand, and policies regarding residential radon. Prof. Mendez has conducted research on the impact of product and service quality on demand. He has also been involved in a research project to evaluate policies regarding residential radon. Currently he is engaged in a study to evaluate smoking cessation policies in the U.S.
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