National Biomonitoring Network Steering Committee

Antonia Calafat, PhD, is the chief of the Organic Analytical Toxicology Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She earned a Doctoral Chemistry degree from the University of the Balearic Islands (Spain) and was a Fulbright Scholar before joining CDC. She now leads CDC’s biomonitoring programs related to pesticides; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; flame retardants including polybrominated diphenyl ethers; persistent organic pollutants (e.g., per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances; polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, furans, and biphenyls); and chemicals added to consumer and personal-care products (e.g., phthalates, bisphenol A, triclosan, parabens). Dr. Calafat fosters fruitful collaborations with leading exposure scientists, toxicologists, epidemiologists and other health scientists.

Henry Anderson, MD, recently retired from his positions as State Environmental and Occupational Disease Epidemiologist and Chief Medical Officer in the Wisconsin Division of Public Health, Department of Health Services which he held since 1980. He holds adjunct professorships in the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of Medicine and Public Health and at the Center for Human Studies at the University of Wisconsin Institute for Environmental Studies. Dr. Anderson has conducted public health population surveillance and numerous epidemiological studies using biomarkers of chemical exposure, working closely with multiple public health laboratories, and authored over 275 publications.

Heidi Bojes, PhD, MPH, is the director of the Environmental Epidemiology and Disease Registries section for the Texas Department of State Health Services. She received a MPH in Environmental Science and Engineering and a PhD in Toxicology both from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Texas at Austin and at Medical Research Council, University of Leicester, in Leicester, England. She has over 20 years of service in public health, including overseeing state registries for birth defects, and cancer, child and adult elevated blood lead levels, and pesticide poisonings. She has conducted environmental epidemiological and toxicological studies.

Zhihua (Tina) Fan, PhD, is the Director of Environmental and Chemical Laboratory Services at the NJ Department of Health (NJDOH). Prior to joining the NJDOH in 2014, she was an associate professor in the Exposure Science Division of Rutgers University's Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine. She has extensive experience in exposure science, environmental health, environmental sampling and analysis. She has published more than 40 scientific research articles, five book chapters/invited articles, more than 50 presentations at a variety of scientific conferences. Dr. Fan currently serves on the US EPA Science Advisory Board and the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.

Dr. Marc A. Nascarella is a health scientist with broad training in public health, toxicology, epidemiology, and exposure science.  He currently serves as a full-time graduate faculty member at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.  His professional interests are focused on applied prevention science and how to rapidly translate the best available science into practical tools that inform policy, public health practice, and healthcare delivery. He serves as an advisor to government and non-governmental agencies on approaches to reduce the contribution of environmental contamination to human disease.  He has led initiatives focused on building capacity in underserved domestic and international communities, and served as a lead investigator on multiple large-scale biomonitoring studies in the US and abroad. Efforts have largely focused on identifying individuals in residential and occupational settings with a disproportionate burden of exposure to metals.  Other efforts include establishing regionally appropriate baseline (population-level) estimates of exposure to PCBs as well as metals and metalloids.  In addition to biomonitoring of environmental contaminants, he has conducted biomonitoring studies to characterize baseline levels of marijuana and marijuana metabolites in individuals who regularly consume regulated retail marijuana products.  Dr. Nascarella is a certified public health professional (CPH) and has previously served as the State Toxicologist for the Department of Public Health in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Jessica Reiner, PhD, is a research chemist and program coordinator in the Chemical Sciences Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). She earned her doctoral degree from the State University of New York at Albany and was an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education postdoctoral researcher at the Environmental Protection Agency. She has worked in determining chemical contaminant concentrations in sediment, water, food, biota, and humans, helping to determine potential exposure pathways, sources, distribution, and fate of these chemicals. Presently, her research is focused on the improvement of analytical measurements of chemicals of emerging concern (chlorinated, brominated, and fluorinated organic compounds) through the certification of reference materials, methods development, and other quality assurance activities.