May 10, 2016 Biosketches of CSAC Subcommittee for 1-Bromopropane Review Page 1 of 3

CHEMICAL SAFETY ADVISORY COMMITTEE 

OPEN MEETING

MAY 24-25, 2016

CSAC Website https://www.epa.gov/csac

Docket Number: EPA-HQ-OPPT-2015-0805

Crystal City Marriott 

1999 Jefferson Davis Highway

Arlington Va 22202

Hotel Phone #: 703-413-5500

Peer Review of the Draft Risk Assessment for TSCA Work Plan Chemical,

1-Bromopropane (CASRN-106-94-5)

Biosketches for Subcommittee Members

James Blando, Ph.D.

James Blando, Ph.D., is currently an Associate Professor at Old Dominion University in the 

School of Community and Environmental Health. Prior to his faculty appointment, Dr. Blando 

was a researcher for 11 years at the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services where 

he designed and conducted several diverse projects in environmental and occupational health 

funded by NIOSH, EPA, and CDC. Dr. Blando has evaluated occupational exposure histories in 

support of cancer cluster studies, participated in the design and validation of occupational 

exposure assessment tools, and has served as the principal investigator for studies evaluating 

protective measures for emergency responders during nuclear power facility accidents, violent 

assaults in hospital settings, and exposure to lead paint dust among general remodeling home 

renovation contractors. He has also conducted exposure assessments in the evaluation of 1-

bromopropane exposures among dry cleaners. Dr. Blando has also conducted inhalation 

toxicology studies for DuPont that evaluated respiratory hazards in polymer processing facilities. 

In addition, Dr. Blando also has several years of practical field experience in Industrial Hygiene 

and has been an industrial hygienist with Exxon-Mobil, Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals, and 

AT&T Bell Labs (now called Lucent).

Jim Blando received his BS in environmental science from Rutgers University (1992), MS in 

Industrial Hygiene from Johns Hopkins University (1995), and PhD from the joint program in 

exposure assessment at Rutgers University (1999).

Muhammad Hossain, D.V.M., Ph.D.

Dr. Muhammad Hossain is a Veterinarian and neurotoxicologist with advanced training in 

pharmacology and molecular neuroscience. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the 

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED). Dr. 

Hossain received his doctorate in neurotoxicology and completed two postdoctoral traineeships 

in molecular neuroscience and neurotoxicology at Mississippi State University and UMDNJRobert Wood Johnson Medical School. Dr. Hossain has been working in the field of 
May 10, 2016 Biosketches of CSAC Subcommittee for 1-Bromopropane Review Page 2 of 3

neurotoxicology for over 12 years and has extensive experience in pesticide neurotoxicity. His 

studies focus on mechanisms of toxicity and relationships of pesticide exposure to neurological 

disorders and the assessment of therapeutic interventions to prevent neurotoxicity. He received 

the Japanese Government Scholarship (MONBUSHO) for his doctoral studies in 2000-2005. He 

won the Faculty Fund Fellowship award from University of Manitoba, Canada in 2006, and a 

Society of Toxicology (SOT) Mechanisms Specialty Section Travel Award in 2012. Dr. Hossain 

has authored and co-authored 29 publications in the areas of pesticide neurotoxicology, 

neuroinflammation, and neurodegenerative diseases. He is an active member of SOT and a 

regular reviewer for several scientific journals including Toxicological Sciences, 

Neurotoxicology, Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology, Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 

Environmental Toxicology, Cell Biology and Toxicology, Drug and Chemical Toxicology, 

Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, and Neurotoxicity Research. In addition, Dr. Hossain 

has served on EPA’s FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel in 2015. His current research focuses on 

(a) role of environmental exposure and genetic factors in the etiology of neurological diseases 

and disorders, (b) pesticide exposure on hippocampal neurogenesis and cognitive disorders, and 

(c) development of animal and cell-based culture models to study neurological disease and 

dysfunction caused by environmental exposures and test therapeutic agents in these models.

Melanie Marty, Ph.D.

Melanie Marty, Ph.D., recently retired from her position as Acting Deputy Director for the 

Science Division at the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, California 

Environmental Protection Agency. Dr. Marty oversaw the scientific activities of the division. 

She was at OEHHA for more 29 years and previously served as Assistant Deputy Director 

(2012-2015), and Chief of the Air Toxicology and Epidemiology Branch (1998 – 2012). Her 

work has largely been in risk assessment of environmental contaminants, including developing 

guidance to adequately address susceptible subpopulations such as children. Dr. Marty has 

served on a number of EPA peer review committees and was the Chair of the U.S.EPA’s 

Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee from 2001-2009. Dr. Marty is also an 

Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of California, Davis, Department of 

Environmental Toxicology, where she teaches a course on risk assessment of toxicants and 

contributes to other teaching activities. Dr. Marty received her Ph.D. from the University of 

California, Davis in Pharmacology and Toxicology in 1983.

 

Michael Pennell, Ph.D.

Dr. Michael Pennell is an Associate Professor of Biostatistics in the College of Public Health at 

The Ohio State University. Prior to joining the faculty at Ohio State, Dr. Pennell received his 

PhD in Biostatistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was both a 

predoctoral and postdoctoral trainee at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. 

Dr. Pennell also holds a B.S. in Biology from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, 

Washington. His research interests are in Bayesian nonparametric and Bayesian survival 

analysis methods motivated by applications in toxicological risk assessment. He has published 

his research in top-tier biostatistical journals including Biometrics and Statistics in Medicine. 

For the past nine years he has also taught a unit on dose-response assessment in the Principles of 

Risk Assessment course at Ohio State. Dr. Pennell has also been heavily involved in 
May 10, 2016 Biosketches of CSAC Subcommittee for 1-Bromopropane Review Page 3 of 3

professional service in the field of risk analysis serving as an Associate Editor of the journal 

Lifetime Data Analysis for the past two years and the Program Chair for the Section on Risk 

Analysis of the American Statistical Association for the 2016 Joint Statistical Meetings. He has 

also served on two EPA Scientific Advisory Board review panels: Trichloroetylene (2010) and 

Libby Amphibole Asbestos (2012).

Lesliam Quiros-Alcala, Ph.D.

Dr. Lesliam Quiros-Alcala is an Assistant Professor at the School of Public Health at the 

University of Maryland, College Park in the Maryland Institute of Applied Environmental Health 

and an Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Dr. 

Quiros-Alcala holds a B.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering (2000) and a M.Sc. in Safety 

Engineering (2001) from Texas A&M University. Dr. Quiros-Alcala worked as a Staff Engineer 

at Brookhaven National Laboratory in the Safety and Health Services Division where she was 

responsible for occupational health and safety before returning to school to get her Ph.D. She 

received her Ph.D from the University of California at Berkeley (2010) in Environmental Health 

Sciences while working at the Center for Environmental Research and Children’s Health 

(CERCH), one of the former EPA/NIEHS Vanguard Children’s Environmental Health Centers. 

During her graduate studies at UC Berkeley, she conducted an occupational exposure assessment 

project in Nicaragua and was the Study Coordinator for an NIH-funded pesticide exposure 

intervention study. Her doctoral work focused on assessing exposures to environmental 

contaminants in low-income children, validating biomarkers of pesticide exposure, and assessing 

the effects of pesticides on children’s nervous system. She conducted her postdoctoral work at 

CERCH where she evaluated risk factors of exposure to bisphenol A in pregnant women, 

assessed the effects of pesticides on neurodevelopment, and co-developed a mobile application 

to improve pesticide exposure assessment in a large epidemiologic study. She also serves in the 

scientific advisory board for the Children’s Environmental Health Network. Her research focuses 

in children’s environmental health and, more broadly, assessing environmental exposures and 

their potential health effects in highly vulnerable populations including mothers, children, lowincome/underserved communities, and occupational populations.