Ivan Rusyn, MD, PhD, associate professor of environmental sciences and engineering, was appointed to a new standing committee of the National Academies. The Committee on Use of Emerging Science for Environmental Health Decisions is a joint effort of the Board on Life Sciences and the Board on Environmental Studies & Toxicology and was assembled under a contract with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The standing committee charge is to "examine, explore, and consider issues on the use of emerging science for environmental health decisions. For this process, it will provide a public venue for communication among government, industry, environmental groups, and the academic community about scientific advances in methods and approaches that can be used in the identification, quantification and control of environmental impacts on human health. The Committee will accomplish its task by convening public meetings of invited experts to inform the Committee and the sponsor about key scientific issues relevant to the use of emerging scientific information, knowledge, and approaches in regulation, disease prevention, education and personal choice, and clinical intervention and management of diseases caused and/or modified by environmental factors."

Note: Rusyn may be reached at (919) 843-2596 or iir@unc.edu

UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, (919) 966-7467, ramona_dubose@unc.edu