Guest Speaker - 

Diana Pacyga, PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Discussion - 

Title: Critical windows for endocrine disrupting chemicals: applying a toxicology framework to population studies

Abstract: Individuals globally are ubiquitously exposed to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) with known health effects that contribute billions annually to healthcare costs. While efforts to regulate known EDCs, such as phthalates, have led to their reduced use, they have been replaced by phthalate alternatives whose mechanisms of action and human health impacts remain unknown. This seminar will highlight how a toxicology framework can be applied to human population studies to elucidate the endocrine and metabolic consequences of exposure to phthalates and their replacements. The importance of critical periods of susceptibility will be demonstrated through case studies on exposures in pregnancy and early life, representing vulnerable but understudied windows. Current and future population studies aiming to elucidate the mechanisms by which phthalates and other EDCs impact child neurodevelopment will also be discussed. Together, this work bridges mechanistic insight with human-relevant health consequences to better guide interventions and future policies to reduce EDC exposures.

Biosketch: Diana Pacyga is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received a B.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and earned a M.S. in Epidemiology and Ph.D. in Human Nutrition and Environmental Toxicology from Michigan State University. Dr. Pacyga is focused on applying a toxicology lens to human population studies to uncover the mechanisms and corresponding health impacts of endocrine disrupting chemical exposures. Her work seeks to understand how environmental influences affect maternal and child endocrine, cardiometabolic, and brain health during sensitive windows, including pregnancy, early life, and midlife. 

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