Meet the Team
Evelyn O. Talbott, DrPH, MPH
Dr. Talbott is the Principal Investigator for this study. She is a Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH.) She has over 25 years of experience conducting case control studies of environmental risk factors both occupational and community specific. She was the director of PITT’s Academic Center of Excellence in Environmental Public Health Tracking that studied environmental exposures and chronic diseases, including ALS, multiple sclerosis (MS), cancer, and coronary heart disease. She has published over 200 peer reviewed articles and chapters based on her work. She has conducted numerous population based case control studies, and has worked closely with the neurology medical community throughout Pennsylvania for over 15 years.
John Vena, PhD
Dr. Vena is Professor and Founding Chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, SC. Dr. Vena serves as a co-investigator on the ALS study. Dr. Vena has over 38 years of experience in environmental and occupational epidemiology. He was part of a team as co-investigator on NIH grants to pioneer integration of biomarkers in epidemiology analytic studies to look at gene-environment interactions, exposure assessments, the use of Geographic Information Systems in epidemiologic research and retrospective assessment of occupational exposures in case-control studies using targeted survey methods, life-time occupational histories and use of job-exposure matrices.
Angela M. Malek, PhD, MPH
Dr. Malek is a Research Associate in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina. She has over 8 years of research experience in the epidemiology of neurological disorders (ALS, epilepsy, stroke) and chronic disease. Dr. Malek is a co-investigator on the current study.
Todd M. Bear, PhD
Dr. Bear is director of the Office of Health Survey Research and Associate Professor of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. Dr. Bear conducts survey research for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention including the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and has over 15 years’ experience in conducting behavioral and social science research. Dr. Bear serves as a co-investigator on the ALS Study.
Vincent C. Arena, PhD
Dr. Arena is an Associate Professor Emeritus of Biostatistics with over 38 years of experience in analyzing and conducting studies that evaluate the association of personal, occupational, and environmental risk factors in disease development. He has collaborated with Dr. Talbott for many years - most recently evaluating environmental risk factors for autism. He brings specific expertise in large scale community and industry-wide studies to this project and serves as a co-investigator.
Jeanine M. Buchanich, PhD
Dr. Buchanich is a Research Associate Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, and also serves as Deputy Director of the Center for Occupational Biostatistics and Epidemiology. She has been involved in occupational and environmental epidemiology for more than 20 years and will serve as co-Investigator on the proposed case-control study to examine specific environmental and occupational risk factors for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis .
Judith R. Rager, MPH
Judith Rager is an epidemiologist in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. She has over 25 years of experience in epidemiology research and has served as a data manager and analyst for a number of environmental epidemiology studies.
Ravi K. Sharma, PhD
Dr. Sharma is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. As a demographer and a spatial epidemiologist, he has substantial experience in the analysis of vital statistics, demographic and large-scale demographic/epidemiological surveys and databases. His professional focus is on the application of geospatial statistical methodology to model the dynamic interactions of environmental factors (both social and physical) and health.
Abigail Foulds, PhD
Dr. Foulds is a Project Coordinator for the Office of Health Survey Research at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. She has been conducting social science research for 15 years in the fields of behavioral and community health and geography.