2007 Public Lecture Series - Science at Your Service

Patrick Parsons, Ph.D.

Dr. Parsons received his doctoral degree in chemistry from the University of London, England in 1983, where he worked on the inorganic biochemistry of the platinum group metals. He completed post-doctoral work as a visiting fellow at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda. Dr. Parsons joined the Wadsworth Center in 1986, where he directs the Lead Poisoning and Trace Elements Laboratory. He is also an associate professor of environmental chemistry in the School of Public Health, University at Albany. Dr. Parsons' laboratory specializes in the use of atomic spectrometry for detecting toxic metals, including lead, in human body tissues and fluids. His laboratory is funded by a grant from the NIH to study the non-invasive measurement of lead bone by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry. He is also responsible for operating the New York State proficiency testing program for lead and other trace elements in blood, serum and urine.