Research is focused on studying the relationship between geological factors and health problems in humans and animals, with a focus on exposure to minerals, inhalation of ambient and anthropogenic mineral dusts and volcanic emissions.

Research interests include:

  • Asbestos, and asbestos-related diseases including health effects from exposure to asbestos-containing materials (ACM), mineral dusts (MD) and volcanic ash (VA).
  • Us of advanced analytical methods for characterizing ACM, MD and VA, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM); transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and polarized light microscopy (PLM), x-ray diffraction (XRD) and/or energy dispersive (ED) X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF).
  • Metrological challenges quantifying asbestos in bulk building materials, ambient, indoor and workplace air, drinking water and settled dust. Harmonizing asbestos measurements across different laboratories using different methods.
  • Exposure to atmospheric nanoparticles and associated impact on human health

Associated Researchers

Patrick J. Parsons, Ph.D.

Director, Division of Environmental Health Sciences

We study human exposure to toxic metals/metalloids (biomonitoring) and long-lived nuclides (radiobioassay); and develop novel speciation methods by coupling LC and GC to ICP-MS, while using portable XRF for field-based studies.

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