Dr. Russell (Rusty)Thomas is vice president and executive director of UL Research Institutes’ Chemical Insights.

Prior to joining CIRI, Thomas served as director of the Center for Computational Toxicology and Exposure at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He has managed research teams in public, private, and non-profit sectors advancing the science of toxicology and environmental health.

Thomas has a broad, multidisciplinary background with a B.A. in chemistry from Tabor College in Kansas, and both an M.S. in radiation ecology and health physics and a Ph.D. in toxicology from Colorado State University. He performed his postdoctoral training in molecular biology and genomics at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research in Wisconsin.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2340-0301

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Christa Wright, Ph.D., is the Director of Toxicology at the Center for Toxicology & Human Health within UL Research Institutes’ Chemical Insights. Her work aims to unravel particle and chemical mediated molecular mechanisms that cause cellular phenotypic changes, which may lead to disease development. Wright uses cutting-edge instrumentation to link chemical and particle emission exposures from various consumer products to adverse cellular outcomes using a systems biology approach. 

Wright received a Ph.D. in Energy and Environmental Systems with a minor in Environmental Toxicology and an MS in Cancer Biology from North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina. 

After graduate school, Wright completed a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute postdoctoral training fellowship at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She previously served as an assistant professor at Georgia State University, where she taught undergraduate and graduate students. She currently serves as a standing member of the National Institutes of Health study section Environmental Determinants of Disease. She is the 2024 recipient of the Black Engineer of the Year Award for Outstanding Technical Innovation in Industry. 

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5950-9026

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Katie Paul Friedman, Ph.D., is the director of the Center for Informatics & Screening at UL Research Institutes’ Chemical Insights. She focuses on using computational and experimental new approach methods to understand the biological effects and health outcomes of chemical exposures.

Prior to her current role, Paul Friedman held scientific leadership positions at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, including working as a division director and computational toxicologist. She was instrumental in promoting new approach methods for pesticides and chemicals, leading the ToxCast program and developing data and open source tools for chemical assessment. Her work significantly advanced the use of innovative assessment approaches. Before the EPA, she was a regulatory toxicologist at Bayer CropScience.

Paul Friedman earned her Ph.D. in Toxicology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Virginia Tech, with minors in Chemistry and Environmental Policy and Planning.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2710-1691

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Mark Wilson, Ph.D., is the Director of the Center for Exposure Science & Advanced Measurements within UL Research Institutes’ Chemical Insights. He oversees research to characterize chemical exposures associated with various occupational and environmental scenarios to conduct robust health risk assessments. 

Wilson received a Ph.D. in Toxicology, an MSPH in Toxicology and Industrial Hygiene from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Georgia. He has been a Certified Industrial Hygienist since 2017. Before joining UL Research Institutes, he spent a decade as a faculty member, teaching and conducting research in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Tulane. 

Wilson serves as the Vice Chair of the Defining the Science Advisory Group of the American Industrial Hygiene Association and is a member of the Society of Toxicology.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0427-9689

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Stephen (Steve) W. Edwards, Ph.D., is the director of Scientific Computing and Data Management at UL Research Institutes’ Chemical Insights. He will oversee the integration and dissemination of data generated by Chemical Insights, merging diverse sources for comprehensive analyses to support public health decisions.  

With over 30 years of experience in pharmacology and toxicology, Edwards’ expertise includes data mining, web-accessible knowledgebases, biomarker applications, omics analysis, and statistical computing.  

Before joining UL Research Institutes, he served as division director at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Center for Computational Toxicology and Exposure, developing tools like the CompTox Chemicals Dashboard. He also contributed to computational toxicology at RTI International and identified drug targets at Rosetta Inpharmatics.  

Edwards holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Vanderbilt University and a B.S. with Honors in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has authored over 80 peer-reviewed publications and received numerous awards, including the 2022 Lush Prize, recognizing his impact in advancing computational toxicology and open data initiatives. 

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7985-111X

Please contact Bert Kelly for media inquiries.

Email: Bert.Kelly@ul.org

Phone: (470)957-7854

Cristi Bell-Huff, Ph.D., serves as the Director of Partnerships and Outreach at UL Research Institutes’ Chemical Insights. She is responsible for driving the institute’s partnership strategy, identifying and cultivating relationships with key organizations to advance research initiatives. Bell-Huff ensures the strategic tracking and dissemination of research materials to maximize their visibility and impact.  

Bell-Huff previously served as a Lecturer and the Director of Faculty and Student Training in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. She has also been an engineering faculty member at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan. 

Bell-Huff received a Ph.D. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University, an M.A. in Education from the University of Michigan, and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. 

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5329-2017

Please contact Bert Kelly for media inquiries.

Email: Bert.Kelly@ul.org

Phone: (470)957-7854

Bert Kelly is the Director of Communications for UL Research Institutes’ Chemical Insights. In this role, he leads the institute’s efforts to amplify the work Chemical Insights does in understanding emerging environmental health threats and their impact on human health. 

Prior to his time with Chemical Insights, Kelly served as a public affairs officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where he was a team lead in the News Media Office working with national and international journalists on a variety of communications requests.  

Kelly earned a B.A. in Journalism and Foreign Languages from Troy University and an M.A. in Communications from the University of Memphis. Since 2009, he has been a part-time instructor at Kennesaw State University’s School of Communication and Media. He is a former Navy Public Affairs Officer and a graduate of the Defense Information School.   

Please contact Bert Kelly media inquiries.

Email: Bert.Kelly@ul.org

Phone: (470)957-7854