Nicole Cairns, M.S.

As a member of the management team of the Division of Environmental Health Sciences (DEHS), Ms. Cairns supports its mission to protect public health through environmental monitoring, emergency response and the production and validation of environmental proficiency testing (PT) samples. She provides oversight, technical guidance and aids DEHS staff in maintaining accredited testing capabilities for a variety of organic and inorganic contaminants in water, soil, and air. She coordinates and manages projects within the Wadsworth Center and with the Center for Environmental Health as public health needs evolve.

Ms. Cairns also fulfills a critical role in implementing the quality assurance program for DEHS as the Quality Assurance Officer of the Organic and Analytical Chemistry Laboratory and the Environmental Proficiency Testing and Validation Unit. She aids staff across the division, from both the organic and inorganic laboratories, in navigating the complexities of environmental laboratory accreditation standards, PT provider standards, and state and federal regulations. She ensures that the environmental testing data and PT samples produced within DEHS are compliant and of the highest quality.

With 20 years of experience working in the environmental monitoring and PT field, Ms. Cairns has become a valuable member of The NELAC Institute (TNI), a voluntary consensus body that authors environmental standards to support the accreditation of environmental testing laboratories and PT providers. She is an active TNI member and serves on several committees representing the Wadsworth Center as both an accredited testing laboratory and PT Provider.