Antagonistic Growth Effects of Mercury and Selenium in Caenorhabditis elegans Are Chemical-Species-Dependent and Do Not Depend on Internal Hg/Se Ratios.

Professor Heileen (Helen) Hsu-Kim is an environmental engineer who specializes in environmental aquatic chemistry and geochemistry. Her research tackles problems related to pollutant metals and the biogeochemical processes that alter their distribution in water, soil, and air. The applications of this work include environmental remediation technologies, the impacts of energy production on water resources, global environmental health, and the environmental implications and applications of nanotechnology.

Dr. Hsu-Kim's current research projects are focused on mercury biogeochemistry, the impacts of coal ash disposal on water quality, recovering valuable materials from geological wastes, and health impacts of trace metal/metalloid exposures. A central theme to her work is the utilization of chemical speciation for understanding and predicting the persistence, mobility and bioavailability of metals and minerals in the aquatic environment.

The methodologies her group employs for this research include laboratory techniques for quantifying trace element speciation, functional measures of reactivity and bioavailability of contaminant metals, and techniques to probe interactions at mineral, water and microbial interfaces.

William Pan, DrPH, Elizabeth Brooks Reid and Whitelaw Reid Professor of Population Studies and Global Environmental Health, joined the faculty at Duke in 2011. He holds a joint appointment at DGHI and the Nicholas School of Environment, and is Adjunct Professor in the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is a biostatistician with expertise in spatial analysis, demography land use science, infectious disease epidemiology and environmental health.  He has over 20-years of experience leading large, multi-institutional and interdisciplinary research teams to study the impact of human-environment dynamics influencing human health in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).  His work is primarily focused in Latin America, particularly the Amazon region.  His current research focuses on: (1) studying the health effects of mercury and other chemical exposures from artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM); (2) developing tools for forecasting vector-borne disease risk, focusing particularly on the integration and modeling of climate, land use, population and malaria surveillance data; (3) studying the role of migration and social network connectivity influencing infectious disease transmission; (4) understanding the risk of lead exposure among hunters and their families, and to identify solutions to mitigate that risk; and (5) evaluating multi-faceted benefits of nature-based solutions related to agroforestry, climate resilience, livelihoods, and disease mitigation.