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 30, 2021.
Chair
Robert E. Chapin, Ph.D.
(Retired) Pfizer Global Research and Development
Affiliation: Former Senior Research Fellow (Retired), Pfizer Global Research and Development, Groton, CT
Expertise: In vitro predictive toxicology; pre-conception reproductive toxicology
Education: Ph.D., Pharmacology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; B.A., Biology, Earlham College
Experience Summary: Dr. Robert Chapin has recently retired from his position as a Senior Research Fellow and member of the Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology Center of Expertise at Pfizer Global Research and Development in Groton, Connecticut. He received his Ph.D. degree in 1980 from UNC-Chapel Hill in Pharmacology and subsequently post-doctored for 2 years at the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology. This was followed by 18 years at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), as a Senior Staff Fellow in the National Toxicology Program, then as a Principal Investigator, and then Lab Head. His area of expertise is pre-conception reproductive toxicology in male and female; however, he also worked hard in the area of in vitro predictive toxicology. He developed advanced in vitro culture methods for exploring mechanisms of reproductive toxicology and helped pioneer the integrated use of molecular, biochemical, histologic, and in vitro methods to address mechanistic questions in reproductive toxicology.
Panel Experience: Dr. Chapin has served as an ad hoc member on several Scientific Advisory Panels for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) specifically the National Research Council’s Low Dose Non-Monotone Panel (2013), and had previously worked on numerous International Life Sciences Institute committees and publications (2009-2011). Dr. Chapin currently serves as Chair of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel (2018-2021).
Members
Veronica J. Berrocal, Ph.D.
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, 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.
Panel Experience: Dr. Berrocal has served as an ad-hoc member on the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Federal, Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) and on the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSAC) Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) multiple times (December 2014; May 2015; November 2017; November 2019; December 2019; September 2020). Besides serving on the above-mentioned panels, Dr. Berrocal has served as external peer reviewer for the EPA on the "Significant Impact Levels (SILs) for ozone and fine particle pollution" in September 2016 and on the "Environmental Relative Moldiness Index (ERMI)" in October 2016. In addition to these experiences, Dr. Berrocal has served as a member on panels reviewing grant applications to National Institutes of Health (NIH) (ad-hoc member of the BMRD study section; June 2017); to National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) for superfund centers (October 2016); the Health Effects Institute (2018, 2020); NSF (2019, 2021); and NASA (July 2019).
Gaylia Jean Harry, Ph.D.
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: Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University. M.S. in Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University. B.S. 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.
Panel Experience: Dr. Harry's experience on Federal panels began in 1992 with participation in various panels to review and draft EPA documents for neurotoxicology, on scientific review panels for National Center for Toxicological Research, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, International Program on Chemical Safety of the World Health Organization, and International Life Science Institute. She has served on various (14) EPA Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Scientific Advisory Panels as an ad hoc neurotoxicology expert member (1999-2012). The latest being on the developmental neurotoxicity of chlorpyrifos, and incorporation of in vitro and human data (2012). She has participated in, and organized various national and international workshops/panels related to neurotoxicity and public health (1992-2019). Dr. Harry has also served on numerous (>30) state, federal, international, and foundation scientific review panels for grant funding, program evaluations, and risk assessment (1995-2019).
Cheryl A. Murphy, Ph.D.
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.
Panel Experience: Dr Murphy served on the EPA Federal, Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) as an ad hoc member twice: (July 29-31, 2014 and January 30-February 2, 2012). She is currently on the National Research Council (NRC) Research Associateship Program review panel (March 2019 to present) and has been a panel member for the Wisconsin Sea Grant Proposal systems. She was on the Steering Committee for the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Focus topic Meeting on “High Throughput Screening and Ecological Risk Assessment – State of the Science and Emerging Applications (2016-2018). She also served as a task force member for the Dietary Threshold for Methylmercury in Fish, sponsored by Environment Canada in 2010, and was Expert Panel Member for the Chesapeake Bay Endocrine Disrupting Chemical Science Plan (USGS) in 2015.
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.
Panel Experience: Dr. Sabo-Attwood served two terms on the Chartered EPA Science Advisory Board (2016-2021) and on the EPA RAPID COVID panel (2020). She has also been an ad hoc reviewer for numerous agencies: National Institutes of Health Systemic Injury by Environmental Exposure (SIEE, 2019, 2020), Digestive, Kidney and Urological Systems (DKUS, 2021), and the Nanotechnology Study Section (NANO, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2021); NIEHS Superfund Research Conference (2016); National Toxicology Program (2016); National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR, 2020), Early Career Development Program (CAREER, 2009, 2019, 2020), Chemical, Bioengineering and Environmental Transport CBET, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019), EPA Science to Achieve Results (STAR, 2012, 2015), National Environment Research Council (2015), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) Research Competitiveness Program (2015); International Sciences and Technology Center (ISTC/U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation, 2006).
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.
Panel Experience: None.
Clifford P. Weisel, Ph.D.
Rutgers University
Affiliation: Professor, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey
Expertise: Exposures to chemical agents; multi-route exposures to environmental contaminants; the association between exposure and adverse health effects; utilization of sensors for continuous exposure measurement; and development and application of biomarkers of exposure
Education: Ph.D., Chemical Oceanography, University of Rhode Island; M.S., Analytical Chemical, University of Rhode Island; B.S., Chemistry, State University of New York at Stony Brook
Experience Summary: Dr. Clifford Weisel is a Professor at Rutgers University and a member of the Exposure Science and Epidemiology Division of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute. He is Director of the Doctoral Degree Program in Exposure Science offered by Rutgers University. Dr. Weisel's research focuses on understanding exposure to chemical agents, with an emphasis on multi-route exposures to environmental contaminants, the association between exposure and adverse health effects, utilization of sensors for continuous exposure measurement, and development and application of biomarkers of exposure. He has examined the relationship among indoor, outdoor and personal exposures to air pollutants; documented the importance of inhalation and dermal exposure to contaminants; characterized exposures within the transportation sector; and examined exposure and health issues related to disinfection by-products in water. Dr. Weisel is past President (2007-2008) and Treasurer (2000-2003) of the International Society of Exposure Science (ISES).
Panel Experience: Dr Weisel has served on numerous international and national advisory committees, workshops and advisory review panels. His panel experience has included the National Academy of Sciences Committee to Review the U.S. EPA's “Science to Achieve Results” Research Grants (2015). Dr. Weisel served as Chair of the U.S. EPA’s “Guidelines for Human Exposure Assessment” review panel (2015) and has recently completed a term with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Powering Research through Innovative Methods for Mixtures in Epidemiology (PRIME) R01 Study Section (2016). Dr. Weisel is currently a member of the EPA Chemical Safety for Sustainability Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) Subcommittee and is a member of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel (2018-2021).