The National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL), headquartered in Research Triangle Park, N.C., plays a vital role in the scientific research mission at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
NHEERL formulates and implements a comprehensive research program to investigate the effects of environmental pollutants and other anthropogenic stresses on human health and the ecosystems in which we live.
NHEERL conducts research under the EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD), which provides the basis for the formulation of environmental policies and programs. The National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory is the EPA's focal point for scientific research on the effects of contaminants and environmental stressors on human health and ecosystem integrity. Its research—toxicological, clinical, epidemiological, ecological, and biogeographic—helps the EPA identify and understand the processes that affect our health and environment and to evaluate the risks that pollution poses to humans and ecosystems.
NHEERL conducts a multidisciplinary research program that strives to reduce the uncertainties inherent in assessing risk. These uncertainties vary in scope from fundamental scientific questions requiring sustained, long-term research strategies to congressionally mandated investigations that demand an immediate response. Accordingly, NHEERL balances longand short-term research objectives, combining elements of both basic and applied sciences to provide a unique blend of research capabilities.
To improve the scientific underpinnings of EPA's risk assessments and regulatory policy decisions, NHEERL scientists create and apply biological assays and toxicologic assessment methods; predictive pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic models; ecosystem function theory; and advanced extrapolation methods. Long-term research components define and characterize toxicological hazards, quantify dose response and other important cause-effect relationships, and assess the integrity and sustainability of ecosystems. NHEERL also provides national and international leadership in identifying and resolving important human and ecological issues and by influencing the research planning and priorities of other research organizations.
The impact of NHEERL's efforts can be felt far beyond the EPA by enabling state and local governments to implement effective environmental programs, assisting industry with setting and achieving environmental goals, and collaborating with international governments and organizations on issues of environmental importance. In addition to its own internal research focus, the laboratory fosters cooperative research projects with academic and other scientific institutions. NHEERL also administers an extramural program through cooperative agreements, contracts, and interagency agreements. These collaborative mechanisms draw upon the expertise of preeminent researchers in academia, industry, and other government organizations.
NHEERL is organized into nine research divisions, each of which specializes in a different field of health or ecology research. The five health divisions are centrally located in Research Triangle Park, N.C., while the four ecology divisions are strategically situated in ecologically significant geographic regions across the United States. By coupling the functional roles of the divisions with its multidisciplinary research philosophy, NHEERL is able to sustain a responsive program that offers specialized skills in many distinct areas while retaining sufficient flexibility to adapt to changing research priorities. Other locations include the Human Studies Facility in Chapel Hill, N.C.; the Atlantic Ecology Division in Narragansett, R.I.; the Gulf Ecology Division in Gulf Breeze, Fla.; the Mid-Continent Ecology Division in Duluth, Minn.; and the Western Ecology Division in Corvallis, Ore.
NHEERL Director Hal Zenick recently received the EPA 2008 Presidential Meritorious Executive Rank Award. In November 2008, Gerald Ankley, Ph.D., a researcher with the Mid-Continent Ecology Division, received the Founder's Award, the highest award recognized by the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC).
More info: www.epa.gov/nheerl/
