EHSRC Role(s): Center Deputy Director; Director, Pulmonary Toxicology Facility; Co-Leader, Nanoscience Thematic Area
Dr. Thorne is University of Iowa Distinguished Chair and Professor in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health. His research interests are in environmental risk factors for inflammatory lung diseases, endotoxin- and glucan-induced immunomodulation, the toxicity of engineered nanomaterials and persistent environmental pollutants, and novel methods for exposure assessment and modeling. Dr. Thorne has served six years as a member of the National Academy of Sciences Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology. In 2017, he became a member of the Academy’s Committee on Toxicology and became Chair in 2020. From 2011 to 2017, he served on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) and served as Chair of the SAB from 2015-2017. He is currently serving a third term on the SAB. Dr. Thorne was a member of the NIH National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council from 2003-2007.
In addition to his leadership in the EHSRC and the Pulmonary Toxicology Facility, Dr. Thorne is principal investigator of the AESOP Project (a community-based research study of PCB exposures) and leads research on the toxicity of inhaled PCB mixtures for the Iowa Superfund Research Program. He also is engaged in the development of medical countermeasures to treat respiratory injuries from chemical threat agent. Dr. Thorne is internationally recognized for his discoveries of the exacerbation of asthma and other respiratory diseases associated with domestic and occupational exposures to bioaerosols. His laboratory collaborates extensively providing exposure assessments for children’s environmental health studies.