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Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations (2020)

Chapter: Appendix D: Committee Member and Staff Biographical Sketches

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Committee Member and Staff Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25837.
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Appendix D

Committee Member and Staff Biographical Sketches

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Mark J. Utell, M.D. (Chair), is a professor of medicine and environmental medicine, the director of occupational and environmental medicine, and the former director of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center. His research interests center on the effects of environmental toxicants on the human respiratory tract. Dr. Utell has published extensively on the health effects of inhaled gases, particles, and fibers in the workplace and other indoor and outdoor environments. He was the co-principal investigator of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-funded particulate matter research center and is a former chair of the Health Effects Institute’s research committee. Dr. Utell has served as the chair of EPA’s Environmental Health Committee and on the executive committee of the EPA science advisory board. He is a recipient of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Academic Award in Environmental and Occupational Medicine and the Mercer Award from the International Society for Aerosols in Medicine. Dr. Utell has served on several National Academies committees, including the Committee on Research Priorities for Airborne Particulate Matter; the Committee on Research Strategy for Environmental, Health, and Safety Aspects of Engineered Nanomaterials; the Committee on Gulf War and Health: Literature Review of Selected Environmental Agents, Pollutants, and Synthetic Chemical Compounds; and the Committee on the Assessment of the Department of Veterans Affairs Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry. He previously chaired the Committee on the Review of Environmental Protection Agency’s Science to Achieve Results Research Program, the Committee to Review the NIOSH Respiratory Disease Research Program, the Committee for Review of the DOD’s Enhanced Particulate Matter Surveillance Program Report, and the Committee on the Review of the Department of Labor’s Site Exposure Matrix (SEM) Database. He also served on the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology. Dr. Utell received his B.A. from Dartmouth College and his M.D. from the Tufts University School of Medicine.

Lung-Chi Chen, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine at the New York University School of Medicine. Dr. Chen’s field of study is inhalation toxicology, and he has extensive experience in the measurement of the cardiopulmonary effects of inhaled pollutants. He is also an expert in the generation and characterization of exposure atmospheres and in the performance of toxicology studies using multiple routes of exposure, primarily those involving pulmonary exposure. He has served on a number of national and international committees and study sections in these areas. Dr. Chen has previously served on two National Academies committees: the Committee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels and the Committee on Beryllium Alloy Exposures.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Committee Member and Staff Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25837.
×

He is the author of more than 200 research papers and book chapters dealing with the mechanisms underlying the adverse cardiopulmonary effects resulting from exposure to occupational and environmental air pollutants. Dr. Chen earned a B.S. in public health from the National Taiwan University and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in environmental health science from New York University.

Ellen A. Eisen, Sc.D., is a professor in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Eisen is an occupational epidemiologist, bridging the fields of environmental health science, biostatistics, and epidemiology. Her research focuses on exposure–response modeling in occupational cohort studies, with a particular interest in methods to reduce selection bias and address time-varying confounding. She has published studies on mortality and the incidence of ischemic heart and lung disease and cancer in worker populations, with a focus on the quantitative assessment of long-term exposure to chemicals and fine particulate matter. Her professional activities include service on the editorial board of the American Journal of Epidemiology and on the scientific committee of the International Congress on Occupational Health—Epidemiology section. Dr. Eisen has served on numerous committees for the National Academies, including the Committee on Gulf War and Health, Volume 10: Update of Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War and the Committee on the Long-Term Health Consequences of Exposure to Burn Pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. She earned an M.S. in operations research and statistics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an M.S. in biostatistics and a Sc.D. in biostatistics and occupational health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Meredith Franklin, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Division of Biostatistics at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC). She is also the director of M.S. programs in biostatistics, health data science, and epidemiology at the Keck School of Medicine and holds an appointment at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences’ Spatial Sciences Institute. Dr. Franklin’s interests are in the areas of environmental statistics and epidemiology. Her research includes the development of functional regression models for dealing with spatially misaligned environmental data, spatio-temporal methods for remote sensing data, and assessment of the human health impact associated with exposure to particulate matter air pollution. She holds a B.Sc. in mathematics from McGill University, an M.Sc. in statistics from the Ottawa-Carleton Institute for Mathematics and Statistics, and a Ph.D. in statistics and environmental health from Harvard University.

Kirk D. Jones, M.D., is a clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Jones’s specialty areas are pulmonary pathology and cytopathology. His research and clinical interests are primarily in pulmonary pathology and cytopathology. He is currently working on elucidating the role of airway rejection in chronic obliterative bronchiolitis, the leading cause of the failure of lung transplant graft survival. In addition, he is participating in a project to investigate the pathophysiology of acute lung injury. Dr. Jones has many publications on topics relating to these interests. He is a member of the United States & Canadian Academy of Pathology, Pulmonary Pathology Society, International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, College of American Pathologists, and South Bay Pathology Society. Dr. Jones earned his M.D. and completed his residency in anatomic pathology and laboratory medicine at UCSF. He also completed a fellowship in cytopathology at UCSF and was subsequently a visiting scholar at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he studied pulmonary pathology.

Meredith C. McCormack, M.D., M.H.S., is an associate professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with a joint appointment in environmental health and engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. McCormack has clinical expertise in asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), general pulmonary and critical care medicine, as well as pulmonary physiology and pulmonary function testing. She serves as the medical director of the Johns Hopkins University Pulmonary Function Laboratory and the vice chair of the American Thoracic Society Committee on Proficiency Standards for Pulmonary Function Laboratories. Dr. McCormack is a physician–scientist with a research focus on the effect of environmental influences on underlying obstructive lung disease—specifically air pollution, diet, and obesity influences on COPD and asthma. She has been funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct environmental cohort studies to understand the effects of

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Committee Member and Staff Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25837.
×

indoor and outdoor air pollution on children and adults with underlying respiratory disease. Her work is largely focused in Baltimore City but has included rural areas of Washington State, Appalachia, and the Caribbean. Dr. McCormack serves as the associate program director of the Johns Hopkins Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship program and plays an active role in mentoring fellows and junior faculty. She earned her M.D. from Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and her M.H.S. from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. McCormack completed an internal medicine residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins.

Cecile S. Rose, M.D., is a professor of medicine at National Jewish Health in the Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, with an academic appointment at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine. Her research interests focus on environmental and occupational lung diseases, specifically respiratory diseases affecting active-duty military personnel and veterans. Dr. Rose has been involved in multidisciplinary collaborative research in non-infectious granulomatous lung diseases, including sarcoidosis and hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and in mining-related lung diseases, including silicosis and rapidly progressive pneumoconiosis in coal miners. Dr. Rose has served on several National Academies committees, including the Standing Committee on Personal Protective Equipment in the Workplace, the Committee on the Study of Control of Respirable Coal Mine Dust Exposure in Underground Mines, the Committee on the Assessment of the Department of Veterans Affairs Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry, the Planning Committee for the Workshop on the Integration of FDA and NIOSH Processes Used to Evaluate Respiratory Protective Devices for Health Care Workers, and the Planning Committee for a Workshop on the Use and Effectiveness of Powered Air Purifying Respirators in Health Care. Dr. Rose received her M.D. and M.P.H. from the University of Illinois. She completed her residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in pulmonary medicine at the Medical College of Virginia. She is board-certified in internal medicine, pulmonary medicine, and occupational/environmental medicine.

Frank E. Speizer, M.D., is a professor of environmental science at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Edward H. Kass Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School. Dr. Speizer’s research efforts are divided between his role as a senior investigator in the Environmental Epidemiology Program in the Department of Environmental Health and his responsibilities in the Channing Division of Network Medicine in the Department of Medicine. The two programs are integrated in the area of study of the natural history of respiratory diseases and in studies of environmental risks for chronic diseases, including risks for cancer and cardiorespiratory diseases. The projects in respiratory diseases involve population-based studies of large groups of subjects who are identified by acute and chronic exposure to indoor and outdoor air pollutants and monitored for symptoms and pulmonary function. He has more than 500 papers and reports published on these and on several other topics. Dr. Speizer is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. His other honors include the 2010 John Goldsmith Award in Environmental Epidemiology from the International Environmental Epidemiology Society. He has previously served on the National Academies Committee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels, the IG14 Planning Committee, the Committee on Research Priorities for Airborne Particulate Matter, the Committee on an Assessment of a Study of Possible Occupational Health Effects on Ionizing Radiation Among Nuclear Utility Workers, and the Subcommittee on Pulmonary Toxicology. Dr. Speizer earned his M.D. from the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Elaine Symanski, Ph.D., is a professor in the Center for Precision Environmental Health and the Department of Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine. She serves as the director of the Program in Environmental and Population Health Disparities. Dr. Symanski’s primary research interests include the investigation of health effects associated with environmental and occupational exposures in vulnerable populations using community-engaged approaches; the development and application of quantitatively based approaches for evaluating occupational and environmental exposures; and retrospective exposure assessment. Her professional activities include serving as the president of the American Association of Programs in Occupational Safety and Health (in 2018), a member of the advisory committee to the Texas Cancer Registry, and an advisory board member of the Texas Occupational Health and Safety Surveillance Program. Dr. Symanski has previously served on two National Academies committees: the

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Committee Member and Staff Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25837.
×

Committee to Review the Styrene Assessment in the National Toxicology Program 12th Report on Carcinogens and the Committee on Contaminated Drinking Water at Camp Lejeune. She also served on the Working Group for the IARC Monograph on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans–Volume 120 (Benzene). She received her Ph.D. in environmental sciences and engineering and her M.S.P.H. in environmental sciences and engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health.

Sverre Vedal, M.D., M.Sc., is a professor emeritus in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington (UW) School of Public Health. He holds the AXA Research Fund Chair in Air Pollution and Health at the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences in Beijing, China, and works with collaborators on air pollution exposure and health studies in China. Dr. Vedal is an epidemiologist with research interests in occupational lung disease and in the adverse health effects of community air pollution. He was the director of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Center for Clean Air Research at UW, which employed the disciplines of exposure science, toxicology, epidemiology, and biostatistics to investigate the cardiovascular health effects of exposure to multi-pollutant atmospheres. Dr. Vedal has published widely on air pollution exposure and health effects and served on advisory committees of EPA and the National Institutes of Health. He has been on two previous National Academies committees: the Committee on Evaluation of the Presumptive Disability Decision-Making Process for Veterans and the Committee on Air Quality Management in the United States. Dr. Vedal received his M.D. from the University of Colorado and M.Sc. in epidemiology from Harvard University. He is board-certified in internal medicine and pulmonary medicine.

Jody Wireman, Ph.D., M.S.P.H., M.P.A., CIH, DABT, is an environmental health advisor for the Defense Health Agency, counseling senior Department of Defense officials on public health, toxicology, environmental exposure, and occupational health and safety for industrial and operational chemical, biological, and radiological hazards. In that capacity, he leads efforts to evaluate historical, ongoing, and future exposures, refining Joint Health Risk Management–related capabilities and supporting personal sample collection advancements. Dr. Wireman has more than 25 years of experience as a public health professional, manager, and educator. He previously served as the director of Force Health Protection at the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command. Earlier, he was a toxicologist and a human and ecological health scientist at the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine. His previous efforts focused on worker health protection and environmental restoration of radiologically and chemically contaminated hazardous waste sites. Dr. Wireman earned a B.S. in safety sciences from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, an M.S.P.H. from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a mid-career M.P.A. from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in environmental toxicology from Texas Tech University.

STAFF

David A. Butler, Ph.D., is a scholar in and the director of the Office of Military and Veterans Health in the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Before joining the National Academies, Dr. Butler served as an analyst for the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment, was a research associate in the Department of Environmental Health of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and conducted research at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He has directed several National Academies studies on military and veterans health, environmental health, and risk assessment topics, including ones that produced Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 1998, Update 2000, and Update 11; Damp Indoor Spaces and Health; Assessment of the Department of Veterans Affairs Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry; Future Uses of the Department of Defense Joint Pathology Center Biorepository; and the report series Characterizing the Exposure of Veterans to Agent Orange and Other Herbicides Used in Vietnam. Dr. Butler earned his B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Rochester and his Ph.D. in public policy analysis from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a recipient of the National Academies’ Cecil Medal for Research.

Elizabeth Barksdale Boyle, M.P.H., CIH, has more than 15 years of experience in environmental health and epidemiology. She recently joined the Health and Medicine Division as a program officer after serving within the

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Committee Member and Staff Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25837.
×

Division on Earth and Life Studies of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Formerly she was an environmental health scientist at Westat, where she supported the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the National Cancer Institute by completing other environmental epidemiology–related projects. Prior to her tenure at Westat, Ms. Boyle was a student epidemiologist at the Minnesota Department of Health and an industrial hygienist at a consulting firm in Cincinnati. She serves as the chair of the nominations committee for the International Society of Exposure Science. Ms. Boyle is a fellow of the Bloomberg American Health Initiative at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she is pursuing a doctorate of public health in environmental health.

Christina R. Samuel, M.P.H., is a research associate for the Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice in the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. As a graduate student, Ms. Samuel worked at the Rutgers Center for Tobacco Studies, where she evaluated tobacco control initiatives, wrote technical summaries, and assisted with research projects. She has also interned at the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health in Washington, DC, where she worked on undergraduate and graduate public health education initiatives. Prior to joining the National Academies, Ms. Samuel worked with the Nurses’ Health Study team in the Channing Division of Network Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she helped assist and coordinate gut microbiome research among health care professionals. Ms. Samuel earned her B.S. in public health and her M.P.H. in epidemiology from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Rebecca F. Chevat is a senior program assistant in the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She was a recipient of a Health and Medicine Division Spot Award in 2019. Ms. Chevat graduated from American University in 2018. She received her B.A. in public health with concentrations in psychology and political science. During her undergraduate career, she worked in the Office of the Secretary and in the Office of Health Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, where she examined public–private partnerships and their role on points of dispensing models during emergencies. Ms. Chevat also has experience working on Capitol Hill and on political campaigns. Additionally, she is a National Registered Emergency Medical Technician. She plans to pursue her M.P.H. in global health.

Anne N. Styka, M.P.H., is a senior program officer in the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Over her tenure, she has worked on more than 12 studies, and directed or co-directed 6 of them, on a broad range of topics related to the health of military and veteran populations. Studies have included mental health treatment offered in the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs; designing and evaluating epidemiologic research studies of deployment-related exposures, including burn pits, dioxin, and other chemicals and the use of antimalarial drugs; and directing a research program of fostering new research studies using data and biospecimens collected as part of the 20-year Air Force Health Study. Before coming to the National Academies, Ms. Styka spent several years working as an epidemiologist for the New Mexico Department of Health and the Albuquerque Area Southwest Tribal Epidemiology Center, specializing in survey design and analysis of behavioral risk factors and injury. She also spent several months in Zambia as the epidemiologist on a study of silicosis and other nonmalignant respiratory diseases among copper miners. She has several peer-reviewed publications and has contributed to numerous state and national reports. She received her B.S. in cell and tissue bioengineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago and has an M.P.H. in epidemiology from the University of Michigan. Ms. Styka was the 2017 recipient of the National Academies’ Division on Earth and Life Studies Mount Everest Award, the 2015 recipient of the Institute of Medicine and National Academy of Medicine Multitasker Award, and a member of the 2011 National Academies’ Distinguished Group Award.

Kristin E. White is an associate program officer in the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Previously a medical writer and editor, she worked across numerous medical specialties and drug classes to create materials for, and resulting from, continuing medical education programs, international medical symposia, and drug and research advisory board meetings. She worked on programs at the

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Committee Member and Staff Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25837.
×

annual meetings of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology; American College of Cardiology; American College of Gastroenterology; American College of Rheumatology; American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; American Diabetes Association; American Heart Association; European College of Cardiology; European Society for Sexual and Impotence Research; Heart Failure Society of America; and International Congress of Cardiology. She received an A.B. from Princeton University.

Rose Marie Martinez, Sc.D., has been the senior board director of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice (BPH) since 1999. BPH has a vibrant portfolio of studies that address high-profile and cutting-edge issues that affect population health. It addresses the science base for population health and public health interventions and examines the capacity of the health system, particularly the public health infrastructure, to support disease prevention and health promotion activities, including the education and supply of health professionals necessary for carrying them out. BPH has examined such topics as the safety of childhood vaccines and other drugs; systems for evaluating and ensuring drug safety post-marketing; the health effects of cannabis and cannabinoids; the health effects of environmental exposures; population health improvement strategies; integration of medical care and public health; women’s health services; health disparities; health literacy; tobacco control strategies; and chronic disease prevention, among others. Dr. Martinez was awarded the 2010 Institute of Medicine (IOM) Research Cecil Award for significant contributions to IOM reports of exceptional quality and influence. Prior to joining the National Academies, Dr. Martinez was a senior health researcher at Mathematica Policy Research (1995–1999), where she conducted research on the impact of health system change on public health infrastructure, access to care for vulnerable populations, managed care, and the health care workforce. Dr. Martinez is a former assistant director for health financing and policy with the U.S. General Accounting Office, where she directed evaluations and policy analysis in the area of national and public health issues (1988–1995). Her experience also includes 6 years directing research studies for the Regional Health Ministry of Madrid, Spain (1982–1988). Dr. Martinez is a member of the Council on Education for Public Health, the accreditation body for schools of public health and public health programs. She received the degree of doctor of science from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Committee Member and Staff Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25837.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Committee Member and Staff Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25837.
×
Page 250
Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Committee Member and Staff Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25837.
×
Page 251
Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Committee Member and Staff Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25837.
×
Page 252
Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Committee Member and Staff Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25837.
×
Page 253
Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Committee Member and Staff Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25837.
×
Page 254
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More than 3.7 million U.S. service members have participated in operations taking place in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations since 1990. These operations include the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War, a post-war stabilization period spanning 1992 through September 2001, and the campaigns undertaken in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Deployment to Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Afghanistan exposed service members to a number of airborne hazards, including oil-well fire smoke, emissions from open burn pits, dust and sand suspended in the air, and exhaust from diesel vehicles. The effects of these were compounded by stressors like excessive heat and noise that are inevitable attributes of service in a combat environment.

Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations reviews the scientific evidence regarding respiratory health outcomes in veterans of the Southwest Asia conflicts and identifies research that could feasibly be conducted to address outstanding questions and generate answers, newly emerging technologies that could aid in these efforts, and organizations that the Veterans Administration might partner with to accomplish this work.

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