Gail Charnley Elliott

Dr. Gail Charnley is an internationally recognized scientist specializing in environmental health risk assessment and risk management science and policy. She has 30 years of experience in the biological, chemical, and social policy aspects of environmental and public health protection, writing and speaking extensively on issues related to the roles of science and risk analysis in environmental and public health risk management decision-making. Dr. Charnley focuses on strategic analysis and risk communication of complex scientific and regulatory issues to both nontechnical and scientific audiences. She works primarily on the safety of chemicals in food, environmental media, work environments, and consumer products. She has testified frequently on Capitol Hill and to many state and foreign legislative and administrative bodies. She has been the scientific spokesperson for a variety of organizations to print and television media. She serves on the National Academy of Sciences Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology and has an appointment as a Lecturer at the Yale School of Public Health. She has served on numerous peer review panels convened by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, and Health and Welfare Canada. From 1994-1997 she was executive director of the Presidential/Congressional Commission on Risk Assessment and Risk Management, mandated by Congress to evaluate the roles that risk assessment and risk management play in federal regulatory programs. Before her appointment to the Commission, she served as director of the Toxicology and Risk Assessment Program at the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council. She is a lifetime fellow and a past president of the international Society for Risk Analysis, for which she has also served as the first Sigma Xi distinguished lecturer. She holds an AB in biochemistry from Wellesley College and a PhD in toxicology from MIT.