Linda Birnbaum

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Linda Silber Birnbaum
Born New Jersey
Fields Toxicology
Institutions National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Alma mater University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Thesis Localization, enrichment and in vitro transcription of the ribosomal RNA genes in Escherichia coli (1972)
Notable awards Was elected to the Institute of Medicine in October 2010, as well as to the Collegium Ramazzini; Distinguished Alumna Award from the University of Illinois

Linda Silber Birnbaum is a toxicologist and the current director of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, as well as the National Toxicology Program. She also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health.[1]

Education

Birnbaum, a native of New Jersey, attended Benjamin Franklin Junior High School in Teaneck, New Jersey, where she became interested in science because she was a cheerleader, and her cheerleading coach was also her science teacher: "I was a cheerleader, and that positive reinforcement made it okay to like science," she recalled in an interview with Scientific American.[2] Birnbaum received her M.S. and PhD degrees in microbiology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Career

Birnbaum, prior to becoming the director of the NIEHS and NTP, worked at the National Toxicology Program as a senior staff fellow, then as a research microbiologist, and then as a group leader for the Chemical Disposition Group. Birnbaum then began a stint at the Environmental Protection Agency, where she directed the largest agency focused on environmental health research for 19 years.[3]

Research

Birnbaum has authored over 600 peer-reviewed publications. Her research focuses on the pharmacokinetic behavior of environmental chemicals and their health effects.[1] She has, in particular, conducted much research on endocrine disruptors, particularly dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls, and her position on the matter has been described as "in the middle".[4] In 2013, Birnbaum published an article in Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism which contended that diseases that are becoming more common, such as prostate cancer, must be caused by environmental factors rather than genetic ones.[5] This paper prompted two Republican congressmen, Paul Broun and Larry Bucshon, to write a letter to the National Institutes of Health in which they contended that some of her "statements sound less like a presentation of scientific data and more like an opinion."[6]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Director, NIEHS website
  2. ↑ Borrell, Brendan (23 November 2012). "Chemical "Soup" Clouds Connection between Toxins and Poor Health". Scientific American. Retrieved 30 January 2014. 
  3. ↑ Linda S. Birnbaum Bio
  4. ↑ Hamilton, Doug. "Interview--Linda Birnbaum". PBS. Retrieved 19 December 2013. 
  5. ↑ Birnbaum, L. S. (2013). "When environmental chemicals act like uncontrolled medicine". Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism 24 (7): 321–323. doi:10.1016/j.tem.2012.12.005. PMID 23660158. 
  6. ↑ Morris, Jim (30 July 2013). "Industry vs. government science". Salon. Retrieved 21 December 2013. 
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