Darryl B. Hood, PhD

Professor
Environmental Health Sciences

Email
hood.188@osu.edu
Phone
614-247-4941
Office
408 Cunz Hall, 1841 Neil Ave, Columbus, OH 43210
Links
Darryl B. Hood

“I spent the first 20 years of my career unraveling the molecular-level mechanisms in the central nervous system that give rise to behavioral learning and memory deficits, which are relevant to children and adolescents who live close to sources of environmental pollution. I’ll spend the next 20 years continuing my innovation in discovery as co-architect of the Public Health Exposome framework focused on determining if there are associations between the built, natural, physical and social environment and the disparate health outcomes in vulnerable populations.”

Biography

Darryl B. Hood, PhD is a nationally recognized environmental public health neurotoxicologist and environmental justice expert at The Ohio State University. After serving on the faculty for more than 20 years at the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance, Dr. Hood moved his laboratory in 2013 to Ohio State to continue his innovative work as co-architect of the novel Public Health Exposome framework with big-data-to-knowledge analytics.

In Columbus, Dr. Hood has assembled a multidisciplinary, community-based research stakeholder team to address disparate health outcomes in environmental justice census tracts. His work focuses on determining if there are associations between the built, natural, physical and social environment and disparate health outcomes observed in vulnerable populations. The exposome framework is relevant to the disparities documented across the COVID-19 syndemic and in the public health impacts of climate change. Dr. Hood is currently applying the exposome framework and analytics as the principal investigator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency STAR “ENVISION” initiative, Co-principal investigator and Ohio State leader of the Columbus Climate Pollution Reduction grant, and co-principal investigator of a second U.S. EPA STAR “FLEETS for ALL” electrification initiative.

Dr. Hood also serves on the National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Society of Toxicology leadership council and on the Planning Committee on Public Health Research and Surveillance Priorities in East Palestine, Ohio.

Education

Postdoc
Biophysics / Molecular Toxicology, Vanderbilt University, 1994
PhD
Biomedical Science / Biochemistry, East Tennessee State University, 1990
BS
Biology / Chemistry, Johnson C. Smith University, 1985

Research interests

Inhalation toxicology (prenatal exposure models autism), developmental neurobiology (somatosensory cortex), behavioral neurobiology (development of structure-specific paradigms), environmental and biochemical toxicology (Nitroxides, PAH’s), dispersion modeling of PAH’s in environmental justice communities, structural biology, protein structure and function, environmental-exposure health assessment questionnaire development, Modeling exposures across lifetime using public health exposome approach

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