Below is the current listing of faculty involved in the Duke University Integrated Toxicology & Environmental Health Program (ITEHP). These individuals provide a variety of resources to our program, including course delivery, scientific expertise, and laboratory opportunities for doctoral training. Direct-admit ITEHP students will rotate with three (3) different labs during their first year to gain exposure to a variety of laboratory settings and determine their training track; affiliation with a specific laboratory occurs at the end of the first year.
Note that not every faculty member listed is currently accepting PhD students as trainees. It is the responsibility of program applicants to reach out to their faculty of interest and confirm whether they are accepting new trainees in their laboratories. We do maintain an internal list of ITEHP faculty availability for students, updated annually; please contact DGSA, Alexis Sharp, if you would like to view the current listing.
Selecting your graduate advisor is just as important as deciding on your research project. We suggest you read this article to get some insight into this important process. To learn more about the mentoring style of a specific faculty member, we suggest you reach out to students who have worked in their labs. If you would like to know which students have experience in a particular lab, please contact DGSA, Alexis Sharp.
Michael H Bergin, PhD
Pratt School of Engineering: Civil & Environmental Engineering
Investigates the influence of air pollution (particularly PM2.5) on human health, and develops novel air sensors.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Global Health
- Exposure Science
Profile: https://cee.duke.edu/faculty/michael-bergin
Staci Bilbo, PhD
Haley Family Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience
Professor of Neurobiology
School of Medicine: Dept. of Psychology & Neuroscience, Dept. of Neurobiology
Pronouns: She / Her / Hers
Dr. Staci Bilbo is a Professor of Psychology and Neurosciences at Duke University whose research is broadly focused on the mechanisms by which the immune and endocrine systems interact with the brain to impact health and behavior, particularly during critical development windows. Her research program is primarily aimed at exploring the mechanisms by which innate central nervous system immune cells, microglia, and signaling molecules such as cytokines and chemokines, influence both normal and abnormal brain development, and the implications for (mal)adaptive behavioral outcomes later in life, including a focus on neurodevelopmental disorders including autism spectrum disorder. Dr. Bilbo received her B.A. in Psychology and Biology from the University of Texas at Austin and her PhD in Neuroendocrinology at Johns Hopkins University. She was on the faculty at Duke University from 2007-2016 before she joined the faculty at Harvard in 2016, where she served as the Lurie Family Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School and as the Director of Research for the Lurie Center for Autism at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children. She returned to Duke in 2019 as the Haley Family Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, and maintains an appointment at Harvard to continue her research collaborations in Boston and beyond.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Development & Children’s Health
- Environmental Health & Disease: Neurological
Profile: https://psychandneuro.duke.edu/people/staci-d-bilbo-0
Lab Website: https://bilbolab.com/
Mark E Borsuk, PhD
Pratt School of Engineering: Civil & Environmental Engineering
Examines environmental and human health regulation and decision making, to which he regularly applies his expertise in Bayesian network modeling.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Global Health
- Exposure Science
Profile: https://cee.duke.edu/faculty/mark-borsuk
David Carlson, PhD
Pratt School of Engineering: Civil & Environmental Engineering
Develops and applies machine learning algorithms to “Big Data” in the areas of population and environmental health, with recent research focusing in particular on brain development and signaling.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Neurological
- Environmental Health & Disease: Global Health
Profile: https://cee.duke.edu/faculty/david-carlson
Website: http://carlson.pratt.duke.edu/
Christopher M. Counter, PhD
School of Medicine
We study how environmental carcinogens induce very specific cancers using carcinogen models, genetically engineered mice, and ultra-sensitive sequencing platforms, as well as targeted proteomic analysis and CRISPR/Cas9 loss-of-function screens.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cancer & the Environment
Profile: https://scholars.duke.edu/person/count004
Lab Website: https://counter.labs.duke.edu/
Gayathri Devi, PhD
School of Medicine: Pathology
Pronouns: She / Her / Hers
Studies dysregulation of the cell death pathway in anti-cancer therapy, and how environmental toxicants influence anti-cancer drug therapy.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cancer & the Environment
Profile: https://surgery.duke.edu/faculty/gayathri-r-devi-phd
Lab Website: https://surgery.duke.edu/divisions/surgical-sciences/research/research-laboratories/cell-death-laboratory
Richard Di Giulio, PhD
Nicholas School of the Environment
Studies mechanisms by which environmental contaminants, particularly PAHs, and other stressors affect vertebrate development using fish models. He also studies mechanisms by which free-living fish populations adapt to these stressors and alter evolution, including fitness costs.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cardio-pulmonary
- Environmental Health & Disease: Development & Children’s Health
- Environmental Toxicology
Profile: https://sites.nicholas.duke.edu/ecotoxicologylab/people/rich-di-giulio/
David B Dunson, PhD
Statistical Science
Methodologic research on nonparametric Bayes, latent structure learning, big data, scalable Bayesian inferences, machine learning, and high-dimensional low sample size problems. Applications in epidemiology, environmental health, neurosciences, genetics, and fertility.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Neurological
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cancer & the Environment
Profile: https://stat.duke.edu/people/david-b-dunson
Liping Feng, MD
School of Medicine: Obstetrics & Gynecology / Reproductive Science
Pronouns: She / Her / Hers
Dr. Feng’s laboratory has focused on understanding the mechanisms of placenta-originated pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia and preterm birth, which are important causes of perinatal and neonates’ mortality and morbidity. Currently, she has three lines of investigation focused on the roles of inflammation / infection, PGRMC1/2, and environmental exposure in placental development and subsequent pregnancy complications.
In addition, Dr. Feng has established an international collaboration in Global Women’s Health. She has affiliated with the Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI) and participates in DGHI research. She has an interest in DGHI education and service or policy initiatives, including mentoring and teaching graduate and professional students on fieldwork and research.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Development & Children’s Health
- Environmental Health & Disease: Global Health
Profile:
- https://obgyn.duke.edu/about/our-faculty/liping-feng-md
- https://globalhealth.duke.edu/people/feng-liping
P Lee Ferguson, PhD
Pratt School of Engineering: Civil & Environmental Engineering
Nicholas School of the Environment
Development of technologies for the trace detection of carbon-based nanomaterials and hydrophilic organic contaminants in environmental samples, and mechanisms of xenoestrogen toxicity.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Chemistry
- Environmental Health & Disease: Development & Children’s Health
- Exposure Science
Profile: https://cee.duke.edu/faculty/lee-ferguson
Katherine J. Franz, PhD
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences: Department of Chemistry
Elucidating the structural and functional consequences of metal ion coordination in biological systems with particular interest in understanding the coordination chemistry utilized by biology to manage essential yet toxic species like copper and iron. Understanding these principles further guides our development of new chemical tools to manipulate biological metal ion location, speciation, and reactivity for potential therapeutic or environmental benefit.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Global Health
- Exposure Science
- Environmental Toxicology
Profile: https://chem.duke.edu/faculty/katherine-j-franz
Lab Website: https://sites.duke.edu/franzlab/
Geoffrey S Ginsburg, MD, PhD
School of Medicine: Pathology
As Director of the Center for Applied Genomics and Precision Medicine, Dr. Ginsburg provides an environment for translational activities for investigators who are interested in the genomic approaches to both environmental exposures as well as for evaluating health and disease.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cardio-pulmonary
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cancer & the Environment
Profile: https://precisionmedicine.duke.edu/about/faculty/geoffrey-steven-ginsburg
Claudia Gunsch, PhD
Pratt School of Engineering: Civil & Environmental Engineering
Conducts research to improve the use of microorganisms in environmental engineering applications, such as water decontamination, and bioaugmentation
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Global Health
- Exposure Science
Profile: https://cee.duke.edu/faculty/claudia-gunsch
Elizabeth Hauser, PhD
School of Medicine: Biostatistics & Bioinformatics
Pronouns: She / Her / Hers
Develops statistical methods for genetic and genomic models and software for the application of those statistical methods to gene discovery in complex human traits contributing to cardiovascular disease and aging, including gene x environment interactions. Dr. Hauser also has a joint appointment with the VA Cooperative Studies Program Epidemiology Center in Durham, where she works on gene-environment interactions with military exposures and analysis of large genetic datasets in the Million Veteran Program for conditions affecting Veterans, including Gulf War Illness.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cancer & the Environment
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cardio-pulmonary
- Environmental Health & Disease: Neurological
Profile: https://dmpi.duke.edu/faculty/elizabeth-hauser-phd
Amy Herring, PhD
Global Health Institute: Statistical Science
Works to develop and apply statistical methodology for longitudinal or clustered data and applications of statistics in population health and medicine; particular focus global health issues, air pollution, cardiovascular, and neurological health.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Development & Children’s Health
- Environmental Health & Disease: Neurological
- Exposure Science
Profile: https://globalhealth.duke.edu/people/faculty/herring-amy
David E Hinton, PhD
Nicholas School of the Environment
Uses fish models to study the effect of environmental toxicants upon early life stage development in vertebrates, and chemical carcinogenesis.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Development & Children’s Health
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cancer & the Environment
- Environmental Toxicology
Profile: https://cee.duke.edu/faculty/david-hinton
Matthew Hirschey, PhD
School of Medicine: Medicine
School of Medicine: Pharmacology & Cancer Biology
Pronouns: He / Him / His
Focuses on mitochondrial metabolism, with a particular interest in how cells use metabolites and chemical modifications to sense metabolism.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Neurological
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cancer & the Environment
- Environmental Toxicology
Profile: https://medicine.duke.edu/faculty/matthew-hirschey-phd
Lab Website: https://www.hirscheylab.org/
Heileen (Helen) Hsu-Kim, PhD
Pratt School of Engineering: Civil & Environmental Engineering
Studies the environmental transformations and exposure risks of trace element contaminants and develops technologies to enable their detection and mitigation.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Chemistry
- Exposure Science
- Environmental Health & Disease: Global Health
Profile: https://cee.duke.edu/faculty/heileen-hsu-kim
Dana Hunt, PhD
Nicholas School of the Environment
Located at the Duke University Marine Lab
Investigates functional dynamics of microbes in response to changing environments.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Toxicology
Profile: https://sites.nicholas.duke.edu/hunt/
Terry Hyslop, PhD
Duke Cancer Institute
Pronouns: She / Her / Hers
Member of the Duke Cancer Institute and Professor of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Dr. Hyslop works on observational studies and clinical trials in cancer (currently lung, prostate, and thyroid) cancer, analyzing the complex relationship between social determinants, built environment, exposures, and biology in cancer.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cancer & the Environment
Profile: https://sites.duke.edu/hyslop/bio-cv/
Nishad Jayasundara, PhD
Assistant Professor of Environmental Toxicology & Health
Nicholas School of the Environment
Pronouns: He / Him / His
The nexus of our research program is formed by the One Health framework and is aimed at uncovering ecological and human health implications of chemical pollution and climate change. For this research we use different fish species as sentinels and examine biochemical and physiological consequences of exposure to chemical and physical stressors.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Toxicology
- Environmental Health & Disease: Global Health
- Environmental Health & Disease: Development & Children’s Health
Lab Website: https://environhealthlab.org/
Sven-Eric Jordt, PhD
School of Medicine: Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Cancer Biology
Pronouns: He / Him / His
Focuses on the mechanisms that enable humans and animals to sense toxic environmental exposures. Investigates the role of chemosensory neurons and their receptor systems in inhalation injury, asthma, smoking, and electronic cigarette exposures.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cardio-pulmonary
- Environmental Health & Disease: Development & Children’s Health
- Environmental Health & Disease: Neurological
- Exposure Science
Profile: https://anesthesiology.duke.edu/?page_id=828280
Cynthia Kuhn, PhD
School of Medicine: Pharmacology & Cancer Biology
Studies monoamine-system neurotoxins including those which kill dopamine neurons, and recently gonadal steroid modulation of neuroinflammatory damage of DA neurons.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Development & Children’s Health
- Environmental Health & Disease: Neurological
Profile: https://medschool.duke.edu/about-us/our-faculty/cynthia-moreton-kuhn
Edward D Levin, PhD
School of Medicine: Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Addiction
Nicholas School of the Environment
Studies toxicological influences on learning and memory, utilizing both rodent and zebrafish models to study toxicant exposures, including insecticides, PAHs and heavy metals.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Development & Children’s Health
- Environmental Health & Disease: Neurological
- Environmental Toxicology
Profile: http://dukecancerinstitute.org/member/levin-edward
H Kim Lyerly, MD
Duke Cancer Institute
School of Medicine: Pathology
Investigates the response of human tissue and organs to external stress, including inflammation and therapeutic agents, and applies insights to create biomarker and imaging strategies for human stress responses, including environmental stressors.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cancer & the Environment
Profile: https://surgery.duke.edu/faculty/herbert-kim-lyerly-md
Goldis Malek, PhD
School of Medicine: Opthalmology & Pathology
Studies the impact of genetic and environmental factors on ocular cell function and biology as a function of age, with a particular focus on identifying therapeutic targets for blinding diseases.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Neurological
- Exposure Science
Profile: https://medschool.duke.edu/about-us/our-faculty/goldis-malek and https://dukeeyecenter.duke.edu/about/faculty/goldis-malek-phd
Lab Website: https://dukeeyecenter.duke.edu/research/faculty-labs/malek-lab
Donald P McDonnell, PhD
School of Medicine: Pharmacology & Cancer Biology
Studies molecular mechanisms through which both therapeutic agents and endocrine disrupters modulate cell function.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cancer & the Environment
Profile: https://medicine.duke.edu/faculty/donald-patrick-mcdonnell-phd
Joel N Meyer, PhD
Nicholas School of the Environment
Pronouns: He / Him / His
Studies the toxicity and genotoxicity of environmental contaminants including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and nanomaterials, with a particular focus on toxicants affecting mitochondria and gene-environment interactions.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Development & Children’s Health
- Environmental Health & Disease: Neurological
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cancer & the Environment
- Environmental Health & Disease: Global Health
- Environmental Toxicology
Profile: https://nicholas.duke.edu/people/faculty/meyer
Lab Website: https://sites.nicholas.duke.edu/meyer/
Susan K Murphy, PhD
School of Medicine: Obstetrics & Gynecology
Nicholas School of the Environment
Pronouns: She / Her / Hers
Analyzes epigenetic changes that occur as a result of environmental exposures in utero as well as those that predispose to malignancy in humans.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cancer & the Environment
- Environmental Health & Disease: Development & Children’s Health
- Environmental Health & Disease: Neurological
- Exposure Science
Profile: https://nicholas.duke.edu/people/faculty/murphy
Lab Website: http://www.murphylab.com/
Project-Specific Sites:
- CIPHERS Project: Cannabis-Induced Potential Heritability of Epigenetic Revisions in Sperm
- NiCHES: The Center for Study of Neurodevelopment and Improving Children’s Health following Environmental tobacco Smoke exposure
William Pan, DrPH
Global Health Institute
Nicholas School of the Environment
Within the Global Health Institute, focuses on the interface between human activities and the environment, especially the demographic, health, and environmental outcomes of these interactions.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cardio-pulmonary
- Environmental Health & Disease: Development & Children’s Health
- Environmental Health & Disease: Neurological
- Environmental Health & Disease: Global Health
- Exposure Science
Profile: https://globalhealth.duke.edu/people/faculty/pan-william
Lab Website: https://sites.globalhealth.duke.edu/panlab/
Steven Patierno, PhD
Duke Cancer Institute
School of Medicine: Pharmacology & Cancer Biology
Studies mechanisms of respiratory toxicity and carcinogenesis by toxic metals.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cancer & the Environment
- Environmental Toxicology
Profile: https://medicine.duke.edu/faculty/steven-patierno-phd
Christine K Payne, PhD
Pratt School of Engineering: Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science
Investigates the cellular response to nanoparticles present in the environment and manufacturing settings.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cardio-pulmonary
- Exposure Science
- Environmental Toxicology
Profile: https://mems.duke.edu/faculty/christine-payne
Lab Website: http://payne.pratt.duke.edu/
John Rawls, PhD
School of Medicine: Molecular Genetics & Microbiology and Medicine
Pronouns: He / Him / His
Investigates how the intestinal microbiome contributes to vertebrate physiology and disease.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Development & Children’s Health
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cancer & the Environment
- Environmental Toxicology
Profile: https://mgm.duke.edu/faculty-and-research/primary-faculty/john-rawls-phd/
Lab Website: https://sites.duke.edu/rawlslab/
Daniel Richter, PhD
Nicholas School of the Environment
Studies soils, ecosystems, and the wider environment. Studies how humanity is transforming Earth’s soils from natural to human-natural systems, specifically how land-uses alter soil processes and properties on different time scales.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Toxicology
Profile: https://nicholas.duke.edu/people/faculty/richter
Daniel Rittschof, PhD
N.L. Christensen Professor of the Environment
Nicholas School of the Environment
Pronouns: He / Him / His
Located at the Duke University Marine Lab
Dr. Rittschof uses marine animals to study plastics as platforms for delivery and removal of flavors, as well as organic and metal toxins.
Focus Areas:
- Exposure Science
- Environmental Toxicology
Profile: https://nicholas.duke.edu/people/faculty/rittschof
Laurie H Sanders, PhD
School of Medicine: Department of Neurology
Pronouns: She / Her / Hers
Investigates environmental influences on mitochondrial DNA damage and its role in neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Neurological
Profile: https://neurology.duke.edu/research/lab-and-translational-research/laurie-sanders-phd
Theodore Slotkin, PhD
School of Medicine: Pharmacology & Cancer Biology
Studies the effects of environmental toxicants including insecticides and nanoparticles on brain development.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Development & Children’s Health
- Environmental Health & Disease: Neurological
- Environmental Toxicology
Profile: https://www.neuro.duke.edu/people/faculty/theodore-slotkin
Heather M Stapleton, PhD
Nicholas School of the Environment
Pronouns: She / Her / Hers
Investigates the sources, fate, and metabolism of organic contaminants, with an emphasis on flame retardant chemicals. Research also focuses on human exposure to contaminants in indoor environments, with an emphasis on children’s exposures; also investigates mechanisms by which contaminants impact thyroid hormone regulation, particularly in the placenta.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Development & Children’s Health
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cancer & the Environment
- Exposure Science
- Environmental Chemistry
- Environmental Toxicology
Profile: https://nicholas.duke.edu/people/faculty/stapleton
Lab Website: https://sites.nicholas.duke.edu/stapletonlab/
Robert Tighe, MD
School of Medicine: Pulmonary, Allergy, & Critical Care Medicine
Pronouns: He / Him / His
Works to identify susceptibility factors and candidate pathways relevant to host biological responses to environmental pollutants.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cardio-pulmonary
- Exposure Science
Profile: https://medicine.duke.edu/faculty/robert-matthew-tighe-md
Mark Wiesner, PhD
Pratt School of Engineering: Civil & Environmental Engineering
Studies mechanisms controlling the transport and fate of nanomaterials in the environment, and approaches for quantifying the health risks associated with these materials.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Global Health
- Exposure Science
Profile: https://cee.duke.edu/faculty/mark-wiesner
Junfeng (Jim) Zhang, PhD
Global Health Institute
Nicholas School of the Environment
Pronouns: He / Him / His
Develops new biomarkers of exposure and adverse effects related to exposure to air pollution; investigates intervention techniques to alleviate respiratory distress from air pollution.
Focus Areas:
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cancer & the Environment
- Environmental Health & Disease: Cardio-pulmonary
- Environmental Health & Disease: Development & Children’s Health
- Environmental Health & Disease: Global Health
- Exposure Science
- Environmental Toxicology
Profile: https://nicholas.duke.edu/people/faculty/zhang
Lab Website: https://sites.globalhealth.duke.edu/ebclab/