Environmental health research has transitioned from evaluating single exposures to examining the multifactorial etiology of health and disease. Advances in exposure science techniques and statistical methods for estimating environmental mixture effects have contributed to increasing complexity in environmental health research, but may simultaneously provide deeper insights into exposure-outcome relationships. This presentation will discuss examples of this increasing complexity in children’s environmental health and approaches being used for analysis.

Dr. Birgit Claus Henn’s research focuses primarily on exposure to environmental toxicants and their impact on child development. She has examined associations between metals, pesticides, and other chemical exposures and neurodevelopment in multiple pediatric cohorts worldwide, spanning critical periods of development from prenatal exposure through late childhood. Dr. Claus Henn is the PI of an NIEHS Career Development Award to utilize novel statistical approaches for analyzing chemical mixtures data in order to understand neurodevelopmental effects of multiple metals. Other research interests include exposure to chemicals in consumer products, effects of toxicants on birth outcomes, and the development and use of novel biomarkers. Dr. Claus Henn also serves as the director of the PhD program in Environmental Health.