Laura Beane Freeman Awarded Scientific Tenure by the NIH
, by DCEG Staff
Laura Beane Freeman, Ph.D.
In September 2017, Laura Beane Freeman, Ph.D., was awarded scientific tenure by the NIH and promoted to senior investigator in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch. Dr. Beane Freeman has made important contributions to our understanding of the carcinogenicity of pesticide exposures, formaldehyde, and drinking water contaminants. Her work has been heavily cited by regulatory and review agencies worldwide.
Dr. Beane Freeman leads the landmark Agricultural Health Study (AHS), a prospective cohort study of farmers and their spouses, with detailed information on pesticide and other agricultural exposures. Her research program is focused on evaluating agricultural exposures that may be related to cancer and other health outcomes. She provides strategic leadership and oversight for the overall study, and mentors junior scientists who use data from the AHS.
She is also the principal investigator of the NCI Formaldehyde Industrial Cohort, the largest study of formaldehyde-exposed workers in the world. Her findings linking formaldehyde exposure to myeloid leukemia continue to play a key role in ongoing national and international regulatory decisions.
In the area of drinking water contaminants, Dr. Beane Freeman recently led an evaluation in a case-control study of bladder cancer risk based on one of the most comprehensive exposure assessment of disinfection by-products to date. Her work provided additional evidence supporting an association between total trihalomethane ingestion and bladder cancer.