Tom Webster outside the John Snow Pub--a pilgrimage site for environmental epidemiologists--on Broadwick Street in Soho, London on a rainy day. The original pump was located next to the pub in the background on what was then called Broad Street. Note that the replica pump has no handle. If you visit the pub, make sure you sign the visitor's book! To read more about Dr. John Snow, look here. His cholera map of Soho is here. To learn more about the John Snow Society, look here.
Thomas F. Webster, DSc, is Associate Professor and Associate Chair of Environmental Health at Boston University School of Public Health. I am Deputy Director and Principal Investigator of Project 2 in the BU Superfund Research Program.
Background
I grew up in the La Mesa/Spring Valley area east of San Diego, CA (Look here for a bit of local public health history). I have a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a D.Sc. from Boston University School of Public Health. A couple other places I've been associated with include the Senses Bureau at the University of California San Diego, and the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems (CBNS) at Queens College, City University of New York.
My research interests include:
- Methodological aspects of environmental epidemiology, particularly issues of spatial epidemiology: disease mapping and clusters, ecologic bias, and the use of combinations of individual- and group-level data.
- Exposure routes and health hazards of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs). We are currently investigating human exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), new and alternative flame retardants, and perfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFCs).
- Endocrine disruption and "environmental obesogens"
- Interactions of chemicals.
- The community context of environmental hazards, including biomonitoring, and international environmental health.
- Ever heard of Dioxin Embalming Fluid or the California Waters of Life? Read about them and other bits of public health history.
- Other research interests include applications of mathematical modeling in public health.
- 28 August 2010: We will run a half day workshop on Disease Mapping using Generalized Additive Models at ISES/ISEE 2010.
- 13 August 2010: Alicia Fraser defends her dissertation Assessing Exposure to Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers and Polyfluroinated Compounds from Diet and the Indoor Environment.
- 19 July 2010: Two new papers examine the statistical properties of using GAMs for mapping of disease. GAMs compare favorably with the widely used spatial scan statistic SaTScan in many cases.
- 30 June 2010: New Jersey Public Television reports on Kate Hoffman's new study finding an association between ADHD and PFOA.
- 15 June 2010: Jessica Nelson defends her dissertation Analyzing Biomonitoring Surveillance Data on Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals for Population Exposure Patterns and Health Outcomes
- 3 May 2010: Kate Hoffman defends her dissertation Polyfluoroalkyl Chemicals and Learning and Developmental Disabilities: Epidemiology and Exposure Assessment
- 26 March 2010: Robin Young defends her dissertation "Properties of Hypothesis Tests Using Generalized Additive Models with Smoothers of Geographic Location in Spatial Statistics"
- 25 March 2010: New paper on the spatial distribution of rheumatoid arthrititis in the US.
- 2 November 2009: New article in Environ Health Perspect. by doctoral student Jessica Nelson, Elizabeth Hatch and Tom Webster on the association between perfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFCs) and cholesterol in the general US population. It received extensive press coverage, including an interview of Jessica Nelson on NPR's "Living on Earth."
- October 2009. News article by Naomi Lubick in Environmental Health Perspectives ''PBDEs in Diet: Meat Fat a Leading Source" on our recent PBDE and diet paper, Fraser et al 2009.
- 18 August 2009: News article by Kellyn Betts, "Discontinued pajama flame retardant detected in baby products and house dust," discusses our new paper on TDCPP (chlorinated tris).
- 17 July 2009: News article in Wired about our new paper on diet as a source of exposure to PBDEs.
- 18 March 2009: News article by Kellyn Betts, "CSI-style tools offer clues about flame retardants in dust" discusses our new paper on the use of scanning electron microscopes and other "CSI" tools to investigate PBDEs in dust.
- 18 February 2009: It is often said that biomonitoring studies can discourage breast feeding, but little research has been done on how participants in such studies actually feel. To find out what we discovered, read our new paper.
- for older news, look here
Publications and Conference Presentations (Includes many reprints or links to open access journal reprints)
Teaching:
- EH780 Great Calamities and their Consequences in Public Health (Spring)
- EH840 Intermediate Toxicology (Fall)
- EH820 Mathematical Modeling for Public Health and Medicine (Fall)
For prospective students
- My department, Environmental Health, offers both doctoral and masters degrees.
- We have a training grant for doctoral students interested in environmental epidemiology in community settings.
My official BU site: Tom Webster, D.Sc.
Contact me by email