Michael Breen

Bio

Dr. Michael Breen is a Research Physical Scientist at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL). His research focuses on the development of air pollution exposure models, integrated with novel personal sensor technologies, to improve exposure and risk assessments for individuals in epidemiology studies. He is a co-investigator for multiple epidemiology studies assessing the exposure and effects of air pollutants. These epidemiology studies include participants with asthma, diabetes, and coronary artery disease living in various U.S cities. He has developed, evaluated, and applied novel exposure modeling and time-activity tools, which includes the Exposure Model for Individuals (EMI) and the GPS-based Microenvironment Tracker (MicroTrac) model, which was cited in the 2017 National Academies of Sciences Report: Using 21^st Century Science to Improve Risk-Related Evaluations.

Before joining NERL in 2007, Dr. Breen was post-doctoral fellow in the EPA’s National Center for Computational Toxicology, where he authored seven peer-reviewed publications on the development and evaluation of mechanistic computational models of steroid biosynthesis for dose-response assessment of endocrine active chemicals.

Dr. Breen is an Adjunct Professor in Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at North Carolina State University, and serves on the Editorial Boards for the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology (JESEE) and the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH). He has authored over 35 publications, holds four U.S. patents, and received various scientific awards including five EPA Scientific and Technological Achievement Awards (STAA), three EPA Honor Awards as member of the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) Risk Assessment Team, the Sally Liu Outstanding New Researcher Award from the International Society of Exposure Science, and the Biological Modeling Specialty Section Award from the Society of Toxicology. He serves on various EPA scientific committees including the Ozone, Sulfur Oxides, and Particulate Matter Integrated Science Assessment Teams, the Technical Qualification Board, and the Risk Assessment Forum.