Ahmad El Hellani, PhD

Assistant Professor

Environmental Health Sciences

El Hellani, Ahmad headshot

The distance between cities is always small, and the distance between countries is getting smaller. Centuries of science brought us closer to each other. I hope the scientific data I generate at EHS can benefit my fellow citizens in Columbus, Ohio, the U.S., and far beyond, reaching my distant village, Younine. I strive for equity in both data generation and data reception.

Contact

424 Cunz Hall
1841 Neil Ave.
Columbus, OH 43210
Email: elhellani.1@osu.edu
Phone: 614-247-4438
Pronouns: he/him

Dr. El Hellani is an organic/analytical chemist who went from fundamental organometallic chemistry research to being interested in the assessment of human exposure to toxicants from various sources, especially tobacco products. He studies tobacco emissions in a controlled analytical lab using smoking machines, in a clinical lab using real-time sampling devices, and in a chamber lab for the assessment of secondhand emissions. His work could be the first line of toxicity assessment of tobacco emissions that may inform in vitro, in vivo (animal models), and biomarker of exposure and biomarker of potential harm studies. His work is interdisciplinary by nature and benefits from collaboration with colleagues with a broad range of backgrounds in environmental sciences, toxicology, engineering, psychology, behavioral science, epidemiology and medicine. 

Dr. El Hellani recently received funding ($1.4 million) from the NIH National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the FDA Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) to validate "Nicotine Flux" (i.e. rate of nicotine emission) as a potentially powerful tool for regulating nicotine delivery from electronic cigarettes. This project utilizes cross-disciplinary analytical and clinical lab methods to test the relevance of nicotine flux to nicotine delivery. The project seeks to answer a long open question about the impact of the freebase/protonated nicotine ratio on the drug delivery profile and subjective effects. 

A better understanding of nicotine delivery, and hence addiction potential, of e-cigarettes and other tobacco products, can provide much-needed evidence to develop regulations that help mitigate risk from tobacco products.