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 and immunomodulation, the health impacts of climate-exacerbated disasters, and the toxicity of emerging and persistent environmental pollutants. Dr. Thorne has served the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine on their Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology and as Chair of the Committee on Toxicology and the Aircraft Cabin Air Quality Committee. From 2011 to 2017 and 2021-2025, he served on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) and served as Chair of the SAB from 2015-2017. Dr. Thorne was a member of the NIH National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council from 2003-2007.
Dr. Thorne served as EHSRC Director from 2001-2020 and as Deputy Director from 1995-2000 and 2020-2026. He founded the EHSRC’s Pulmonary Toxicology Facility (PTF) in 1994 and served as its Director until 2026. In addition to his leadership in the EHSRC and the PTF, Dr. Thorne was 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.