The Arsenic Research Program is directed by Allan H. Smith, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley.  Our arsenic research activities began more than twelve years ago with a risk assessment focusing mainly on cancer. This work revealed the cancer risks from inorganic arsenic in drinking water to be potentially very high. As a result, the Arsenic Health Effects Research Program was initiated to study the health risks from exposure to inorganic arsenic. Currently it involves international research projects in Argentina, Chile, India, and Bangladesh, as well as U.S.-based investigations in California and Nevada. There are many opportunities for doctoral student research within these studies.  Inquiries from potential PhD students in environmental or occupational epidemiology are highly encouraged.

In 2001, with funding from the Fogarty International Center of NIEHS, the International Research and Training Program in Environmental and Occupational Health was implemented to equip selected trainees with the skills and resources to address occupational and environmental health problems in their own countries. Worldwide collaborations include those with institutions in Nepal (Pokhara) and India (Kolkata, West Bengal, Lucknow, Chennai, New Delhi, and Chandigarh).   Trainees in the Fogarty program may work on Project Well which has established a dugwell program in West Bengal to provide arsenic safe water supported by private donations.

The research team is based at Berkeley, but the program includes collaborators at the University of Washington, Seattle, the University of California, San Francisco, as well as collaborators and staff working on projects in Argentina, Chile and West Bengal, India. Funding sources include the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) ,  the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the California Cancer Research Program (CRP).

University of California, Berkeley ~ School of Public Health ~ 50 University Hall MC7360 ~ Berkeley, CA 94720-7360

Telephone: 510/843-1736 E-mail: asrg@berkeley.edu