Paige Tolbert

Former O. Wayne Rollins Chair of Environmental Health, Retired 

Dr. Tolbert has a twenty-year career of research, teaching and service in environmental epidemiology. She has experience in a wide range of environmental epidemiology, from intensive molecular lab-based studies to large cohort studies. She has studied carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, pesticides, water pollution, and most recently the pulmonary, cardiac and reproductive health effects of ambient air pollution. The air pollution work is encompassed by a collection of studies referred to as the Studies of Particles and Health in Atlanta (SOPHIA), supported by multiple NIH R01s and other grants in the past ten years, and recently has culminated in the award of an EPA Clean Air Research Center, an $8M five-year collaboration with Georgia Tech.  She also directs a training program in environmental epidemiology (NIOSH T01). Service activities have included numerous expert panels and grant reviews, culminating most recently in being named to the EPA’s chartered Science Advisory Board, the agency’s primary source of guidance on priorities and future directions. Dr. Tolbert has a deep commitment to advancing the professional development of those at the early stages of their careers in this field, including students, post-docs and junior faculty.