Dr. Darryl Hood appointed to National Advisory Health Sciences Council

Professor and Dean’s Fellow in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, College of Public Health, Dr. Darryl Hood was recently appointed to a 3-year term to serve on the National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council (NAEHSC). 

The NAEHSC is a Congressionally mandated body that advises the secretary of HHS, the director of NIH, and the director of NIEHS on matters relating to the direction of research, research support, training, and career development supported by NIEHS. An important function of the council is secondary review of research grant applications with a focus on NIEHS scientific program priorities and program balance. Membership of the NAEHSC consists of ex-officio members and 12 national leaders in the fundamental sciences, environmental public health sciences, medical sciences, education, and public affairs. One-third of the council must be public members. The council meets three times a year: Winter, Spring, and Fall.     Currently in the College of Public Health, Dr. Hood has 3-Ph.D. students (Heather Lochotzki, Therese Rajasekera (Co-advisor w/ Dr. Tamar Gur), and Carissa Moore) and 1-MPH student (Ryan Ellis). Congratulations to Dr. Hood on this prestigious appointment.

Dr. Darryl Hood moderates discussion on children's environmental health

Earlier this month, Dr. Hood served on a planning committee of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice and Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology to organize, convene and serve as a moderator for a public workshop to discuss the state of science and knowledge about children's environmental health. 

The workshop brought together experts in epidemiology, toxicology, environmental public health, dose response methodology, and exposure science to explore advancements in understanding the health effects from early life exposures to environmental hazards with effects across the life course, and implications for future priorities. The workshop was entitled: Children’s Environmental Health: A Workshop on Future Priorities for Environmental Health Sciences.

Dr. Darryl Hood invited to speak at New York Exposome Symposium

As the co-architect of the novel Public Health Exposome framework and analytics with an environmental justice lens, Dr. Hood was invited to give a featured talk at the 2022 NYC Exposome Symposium entitled “Health Equity and the Exposome: Understanding the Hidden Ways Environment Drives Health. 

The field of Exposomics is fundamentally shifting our ability to understand human health, disease, and effective interventions for treatment. The symposium focused on the role of exposomics within the context of health disparities research and implications for improving clinical care for communities of color. With the rapid development of new methods, novel biomarkers, and new technologies, exposomics has accelerated how we understand the complexity of environmental exposures and how the body responds to them. The symposium attracted both senior and junior research scientists interested in learning and sharing innovative tools that improve exposure data collection and other new methods. Physicians and medical students gained valuable insights in how to integrate environmental exposures assessments into their clinical practice. Trainees and early-stage investigators also had the opportunity to present their research in a poster session.