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B
Speaker Biographies
Robert Burlage is a staff scientist at the Environmental Sciences Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His research interests include the expression of genes that are involved in the bioremediation of hazardous waste, particularly in situ.
Daniel Drell is a biologist and program manager in the Human and Microbial Genome Program at the Office of Biological and Environmental Research of the Department of Energy. He also manages the Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues Program for the Human Genome Program and has written and spoken extensively on this topic.
John Groopman is professor and chairman of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences in the School of Hygiene and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. His research interests include the development of molecular biomarkers reflective of exposure to and risk posed by environmental carcinogens.
Larry Hourcle is a professor of environmental law at George Washington Law School. He also codirects the George Washington University Environmental Law Program and serves as acting director of the university's Institute for the Environment. He is an expert on legal issues associated with hazardous-waste remediation.
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Mitch Lasat is an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) fellow working on phytoremediation issues in the Environmental Protection Agency's Technology Innovation Office and National Center for Environmental Research. Before becoming a AAAS fellow, he was a research associate professor at Cornell University, where he investigated plant mechanisms that allow environmental phytoremediation.
Richard Levie is a principal with ADR Associates in Washington, DC. He is a retired associate judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, where he served for more than 14 years. As a judge, he presided over cases involving medical and legal malpractice, tobacco injury and class action, asbestos personal injury, and property damage, leaded-paint personal injury, discrimination, benzene, and insurance coverage.
Paul Locke is the deputy director of the Pew Environmental Health Commission and a visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. He is also affiliated with the Environmental Law Institute in Washington, DC. His research interests include the study of biologic markers in risk modeling of environmental tobacco-smoke exposure and the application and use of public-health expert scientific testimony in the courtroom.
Gilbert Omenn is executive vice president for medical affairs at the University of Michigan. He is also chief executive officer of the University of Michigan Health System and a professor of internal medicine, human genetics, and public health. His research interests include genetic predispositions to environmental and occupational health hazards, chemoprevention of cancers, health promotion for older adults, science-based risk analysis, and health policy. He was elected a member of the Institute of Medicine in 1978.
Susan Poulter is a professor of law at the University of Utah College of Law. She has written and spoken extensively on science and the law in toxic-injury litigation and on risk assessment and environmental law.
Phil Sayre is the associate division director in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Risk Assessment Division, which is part of the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics. He works on risk issues that pertain to industrial chemicals and biotechnology products that fall within the scope of the Toxic Substances Control Act. He also works with EPA's Remediation Technology Development Forum where he cochairs a working group with industry to develop plants for the remediation of soils contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbon.
Richard Sharp is a biomedical ethicist at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. He holds a PhD in moral philosophy, and his professional
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interests focus on the ethical, legal, and social implications of research on genetic susceptibilities to disease.
William Suk is director of the Office of Program Development and director of the Hazardous Substances Basic Research and Training Program at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). He is also involved with the Environmental Genome Project at NIEHS. His research interests include linking exposures with disease and developing research and prevention strategies to reduce the risk of environmentally induced diseases and disorders.
William Thilly is a professor of toxicology and director of the Center for Environmental Health Sciences at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research interests include the causes and mechanisms of mutation in humans, cell kinetics, and genetic change and cancer.
LaReesa Wolfenbarger is an environmental-science fellow at the Environmental Protection Agency and is sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Her research has focused on ecologic, evolutionary, and genetic processes that influence animal and plant populations.
Franklin Zweig is president and chief executive officer of the Einstein Institute for Science, Health, and the Courts. The mission of the institute is to provide judges, courts, and court-related personnel with knowledge tools related to criminal and civil proceedings involving evidence from the genetic sciences and from new discoveries and technologies in the environmental sciences and neurosciences.