1. Linda Silber Birnbaum is an American toxicologist, microbiologist and the former director of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, as well as the National Toxicology Program, positions she held from January 18,2009 until October 3,2019.
Linda Birnbaum serves as an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health and as a member of the editorial board of Environment International.
Linda Birnbaum then began a stint at the Environmental Protection Agency, where she directed the largest agency focused on environmental health research for 19 years.
Linda Birnbaum has served as the past president of the Society of Toxicology.
Linda Birnbaum singled out ozone and black carbon as examples of pollutants with serious adverse health effects.
Linda Birnbaum retired as directory of NIEHS and NTP on October 3,2019, but continues to perform laboratory research part-time at the institute.
Linda Birnbaum's research focuses on the pharmacokinetic behavior of environmental chemicals and their health effects.
Linda Birnbaum is well known for her research on endocrine disruptors, particularly dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers.
In 2013, Linda Birnbaum published an article in Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism which contended that diseases that are becoming more common, such as prostate cancer, must be caused by environmental factors rather than genetic ones.
Linda Birnbaum was elected to the Institute of Medicine in October 2010, and received the Collegium Ramazzini award.
Linda Birnbaum received a Distinguished Alumna Award from the University of Illinois and an honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Rochester, and received the Homer N Calver Award from the American Public Health Association in 2013.