OHH Consortium Members
Note: The information on this Web page is also available as a PDF file.
The Pacific Northwest Consortium brings together a diverse, but interconnected group of scientists with a history of successful interdisciplinary research on the role of the oceans in human health. The members share a commitment to training graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.
The 18 PNW Consortium members come from the University of Washington’s College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, and School of Medicine, as well as NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC). The PNW Consortium also draws on the outreach expertise offered by Washington Sea Grant to transition research to coastal policy and management communities.
Roles of the Consortium members will be as follows:
- University of Washington faculty will serve as thesis advisors and may serve as thesis committee members or mentors for trainees.
- NOAA researchers will serve as mentors and may serve as thesis committee members for trainees.
- Washington Sea Grant managers will provide administrative oversight for the traineeship program and develop a practicum placement process.
The following list of PNW Consortium members briefly describes each of their areas of expertise.
- Virginia Armbrust (or http://depts.washington.edu/pnwh2o/people.html)
UW Professor of Oceanography, Co-Director of the Pacific Northwest Center for Human Health and Ocean Studies (UW Center). Dr. Armbrust’s research focuses on molecular ecology and genomics of marine phytoplankton and phytoplankton/bacterial interactions. She currently leads an international project to sequence the whole genome of the toxigenic diatom, Pseudo-nitzschia multiseries. - Thomas Burbacher
UW Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, Head of the Division of Reproductive and Developmental Sciences at the Washington National Primate Research Center, Director of the Infant Primate Research Laboratory and the Rodent Behavioral Toxicology Laboratory, Core Director for the UW Center. Dr. Burbacher’s research focuses on defining the neuroteratogenic effects of chronic, low-dose in utero exposure to environmental pollutants. - Tracy Collier
Director of the Environmental Conservation Division at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center and Principal Investigator of NOAA’s West Coast Center for Oceans and Human Health (NOAA Center). Dr. Collier’s research focuses on the effects of contaminants on fish populations. - Lucio Costa
UW Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, Director of the Neurotoxicology core at the Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health, Core Director for the UW Center. Dr. Costa’s research focuses on the cellular, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms of neurotoxicity utilizing in vivo, in vitro and cell culture systems. - Walton Dickhoff
UW Professor of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences, NWFSC Division Director of the Resource Enhancement and Utilization Technologies Division and Chief Scientist of the NOAA Center. Dr. Dickhoff’s research focuses on hormonal control of growth and development of fish, particularly salmon. - Ronald F. DiGiacomo
UW Professor of Comparative Medicine in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine. Dr. DiGiacomo’s research interests include the epidemiology of infectious diseases, molecular epidemiology, zoonotic diseases and disease surveillance. - Elaine M. Faustman (or http://depts.washington.edu/envhlth/faculty.php?Faustman_Elaine).
UW Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, Director of the Institute for Risk Analysis and Risk Communication, and Director of the UW Center. Dr. Faustman’s research focuses on molecular and cellular mechanisms of developmental and reproductive toxicants, characterizing in vitro techniques for developmental toxicology assessment, and development of biologically-based dose-response models for noncancer risk assessment. Her research expertise also includes development of decision-analytic tools for communicating and translating new scientific findings into risk assessment and risk management decisions. - Clement Furlong
UW Professor of Genome Sciences and Core Director of the Biosensor Core of the UW Center. Dr. Furlong’s primary research focus is the development of biosensors with applications in medicine and environmental monitoring. - Evan Gallagher
UW Associate Professor of Toxicology in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences. Dr. Gallagher’s research focuses on understanding the toxicological basis for species and individual susceptibility to chemical toxicity and development of mechanistically-based markers of chemical exposure effects using several fish models and primary human cells. - Barbara M. Hickey
UW Professor of Oceanography, Director of the Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms in the Pacific Northwest (ECOHAB PNW) and Co-Investigator at the UW Center. Dr. Hickey’s research interests include the dynamics of coastal physical oceanography and the impact of physical processes on harmful algal bloom (HAB) events. Field programs include cruises along Washington, Oregon, and California coasts as well as in the Bahamas, and deployment of arrayed moored oceanographic sensors in each of these areas. - Thomas M. Leschine.
UW Professor and Director of the School of Marine Affairs, Co-Investigator at the UW Center. Dr. Leschine’s research focuses on marine environmental decision-making, with an emphasis on decision and management science applied to marine resource management, marine pollution management, and ocean policy studies. - Evelyn J. Lessard
UW Associate Professor of Oceanography and Principal Investigator ECOHAB PNW. Dr. Lessard’s research focuses on protist ecology and food web dynamics, particularly with regard to harmful algal blooms. Field programs include cruises along Washington and Oregon coasts, and in Puget Sound, the Gulf of Alaska, and the Bering Sea. - Scott. J. Meschke
UW Associate Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, Co-Investigator at the UW Center. Dr. Meschke’s research focuses on the mobility, persistence, and detection of pathogens in the environment and in shellfish. - Gabrielle Rocap
UW Assistant Professor of Oceanography and Co-Investigator at the UW Center. Dr. Rocap’s research focuses on ecology, genomics, and evolution of marine microbes. Field programs include cruises/sampling in Puget Sound, the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, the Costa Rica Upwelling Dome, and the South Atlantic. - John E. Stein
NWFSC Deputy Science Director, Deputy Director of the NOAA Center and UW Affiliate Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences. Dr. Stein’s research focuses on the use of sentinel organisms (fish and marine mammals) to understand the impacts of chemical toxicants. - Mark S. Strom
NWFSC supervisory microbiologist, UW Affiliate Associate Professor at the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and Department of Microbiology, Adjunct Member of the Center for Reproductive Biology at Washington State University, and Principal Investigator at the NOAA Center. Dr. Strom’s research focuses on the mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis and environmental persistence of Vibrio vulnificus and V. parahaemolyticus using molecular biology and genomics methods. Field programs include sampling in Puget Sound and Willapa Bay. - Vera L. Trainer
NWFSC research oceanographer, UW Affiliate Faculty in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, Principal Investigator at the NOAA Center, and Co-Investigator at the UW Center. Dr. Trainer’s research focuses on toxicology and oceanography of harmful algae. Field programs include cruises along the Pacific coast. She has been instrumental in developing the Olympic Region Harmful Algal Blooms (ORHAB) program, an internationally recognized research and monitoring program for early warning of harmful algal bloom events. - Usha Varanasi
NWFSC Science and Research Director, Director of the NOAA Center, UW Affiliate Professor of Chemistry and Affiliate Faculty in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. Dr. Varanasi’s research focuses on the impacts of contaminants on marine vertebrates, including fish and marine mammals. Through her work at NOAA she has fostered the education and mentoring of numerous early-career scientists and has helped develop a next generation of leaders in her field.