Marielle C. Brinkman
Research Professor
Epidemiology
“I knew from a very young age that I wanted to work in a laboratory. I was also raised in a family that placed a heavy emphasis on moral behavior and choosing a vocation that contributes to making the world a better place. The College of Public Health connects me with the top-notch people and resources needed to inform regulatory decision-making and achieve the overarching goal of enhancing public health. In my role, I’ve come to see the scientific method as one of the strongest tools we have to guide us as we navigate our societal well-being. The college also strongly supports mentorship of the next generation of diverse scientists, which allows me to joyfully repay the debt I owe to all of my mentors.”
Biography
Marielle has over 28 years of experience conducting human exposure assessment research, including a special focus on the use of non-invasive exhaled breath analysis to inform tobacco regulatory control for the last 17 years. She has designed, fabricated and validated a research-grade waterpipe for use in human topography measurement and estimated active and passive toxicant exposures resulting from waterpipe tobacco smoking.
Marielle has lectured internationally and nationally on a variety of tobacco regulatory topics, including how testing protocols and waterpipe design and components influence toxicant emissions. She contributes to international tobacco regulation as an active participant in the World Health Organization Tobacco Regulatory Laboratory (WHO TobLabNet) and has co-authored four WHO reports providing recommendations on waterpipe and other tobacco product emissions testing.
Marielle has and is currently leading several federally funded projects specific to waterpipe use, including an R01 grant evaluating optimal placement and content of health warning labels; an R01 grant quantifying the effect of WP tobacco ingredients on human puffing, exposures and appeal; an FDA contract to measure the harmful and potentially harmful constituent (HPHC) content of waterpipe tobacco-use waste products; and a Center grant (P50) that includes standardizing methods to measure waterpipe smoke emissions.
She is affiliated with the University of Maryland Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science.
Education
- B.S.
- Chemistry, University of Illinois, 1987
Select publications
- Mikheev VB, Buehler SS, Brinkman MC, Granville CA, Lane TE, Clark PI. The application of commercially available mobile cigarette topography devices for e-cigarette vaping behavior measurements. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 2018, under review.
- AL Aaraj L, Brinkman MC, Saliba NA. Waterpipe tobacco content and emissions: A review of evidence and recommendations for future regulations and standard testing protocols. World Health Organization, 2018, in press.
- Brinkman MC, Stepanov I. Report on new priority list of testing of selected contents and emissions in combusted tobacco products. World Health Organization, 2018, in press.
- Hamad SH, Johnson NM, Tefft ME, Brinkman MC, Gordon SM, Clark PI, Buehler SS. Comparison of Little Cigars to 3R4F Reference Cigarettes: Physical Properties and Semivolatile HPHCs. Tobacco Regulatory Science, 2017; 3(4):459-78.
- Kim H, Lim J, Buehler SS, Brinkman MC, Johnson NM, Wilson, L, & Cross KM. Role of Sweet and Other Flavors in Liking and Disliking of Electronic Cigarettes. Tobacco Control. 2016 Nov; 25(Suppl 2):ii55-ii61. PubMed PMID: 27708124.
- Kim H, Brinkman MC, Sharma E, Gordon SM, Clark PI. 2016. Variability in puff topography and exhaled CO in waterpipe tobacco smoking. Tobacco Regulatory Science, 2(4), pp.301-308.
- Crenshaw MD, Tefft ME, Buehler SS, Brinkman MC, Clark PI, Gordon SM. Determination of Nicotine, Glycerol, Propylene Glycol and Water in Electronic Cigarette Fluids Using Quantitative 1H NMR. Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry, 2016; 54(11), 901-904.
- Mikheev VB, Brinkman MC, Granville CA, Gordon SM, Clark PI. (2016). Real-time measurement of electronic cigarette aerosol size distribution and metals content analysis. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, ntw128.
- Klupinski TP, Strozier ED, Friedenberg DA, Brinkman MC, Gordon SM, Clark PI. Identification of New and Distinctive Exposures from Little Cigars. Chem Res Toxicol. 2016 Feb 15;29(2):162-8. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrestox.5b00371. Epub 2016 Jan 21. PubMed PMID: 26605856
- WHO TobReg: report on the scientific basis of tobacco product regulation: 6th report of a WHO study group (in press): Brinkman M and Shihadeh A. Section 5: Waterpipe Toxicant Content and Emissions; Brinkman M, Klerx W, Shihadeh A, Talhout R and Zaatari G. Section 6: Applicability and adaptability of the WHO Tobacco Laboratory Network standard operating procedures for cigarettes to waterpipe tobacco.