Paul J Lioy

Early life and education

Paul J. Lioy graduated from Passaic High School in 1965, and Montclair State College (today University), NJ in 1969 (Magnum Cum Laude) In 1971, he received a master's degree from Auburn University, AL, in Physics, and in 1975 an M.S. and Ph.D. in environmental science from Rutgers University.

University appointments

Adjunct positions

Awards and advisory committees

Major committee assignments - international, national, and regional

Personal life and death

In 1971, he married the former Jean Yonone and had one son, Jason. Lioy died on July 8, 2015 after collapsing at Newark Liberty International Airport, aged 68 of undetermined causes. Lioy’s survivors included his mother, also named Jean Lioy, a sister, Mary Jean Giannini and two grandchildren.

Books

Leagacy in exposure science

Lioy’s reputation evolved primarily based upon his role in developing scientific principles and refining the approaches that define the field of exposure science. This discipline is associated with the field of environmental and occupational health sciences, which includes epidemiology and risk assessment, and prevention. In a 1990 article published in Environmental Science and Technology he was the first to properly locate exposure science as the bridge between traditional environmental sciences and the understanding of human health outcomes. Building upon the work of occupational hygiene and the work of Wayne Ott, Lioy has clearly shown that the most important aspect of total human exposure is whether or not an individual comes into contact with a toxin, discussed in a 2010 review article on exposure science and his recent book on exposure science. In the latter he has clearly linked external and internal markers of exposure. Thus, prevention is a key part of the application of this field of science. He re-analyzed the work of the "father of occupational medicine", Bernardino Ramazzini who provided the initial reasons for examining contact with an agent to define ways to control occupational illness. This historical analysis can be used to improve the way exposure science evolves in the future. Lioy is also a Fellow of the Collegium Ramazzini.

Lioy has been a central figure in understanding exposure to the air pollutant tropospheric ozone, chloroform and other toxicant exposures from shower water, hexavalent chromium wastes, and most recently, the exposures derived from the dust and smoke released in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001. He has also been a major figure in defining some of the basic data requirements (and providing exposure indices) for examining human exposures within the National Children's Study. He was a Co-Principal Investigator within the portion of the National Human Exposure Assessment Survey (NHEXAS) conducted in five mid-western states, led by Edo Pellizzari of Research Triangle Institute. Currently his research addresses human exposure to engineered nanotechnology consumer products and the exposure of athletes to artificial turf used on athletic fields. In addition, from 1987 to 1991 he was the Chairman of the First National Research Council (NRC) Committee that directly addressed human exposure issues and published Human Exposure to Air Pollutants: Advances and Opportunities," also called "White Book." He was Vice Chair of the NRC committee on Exposure Science that produced the report entitled "Exposure Science in the 21st Century: A Vision and A Strategy". He was also vice chair of the WTC Technical Panel that was formed to address the issues of residential cleanup during the WTC Aftermath.

Ozone

During the early 1980s Lioy recognized that the public health metric for defining exposure of the general population to troposphere ozone (smog) was incorrect and that the one-hour standard for peak ozone levels should be replaced by an eight-hour standard. Independently, Peter Rombout, RIVM, Netherlands, discovered the same issue. In 1986, they collaborated and published an article on the need for an eight-hour ozone standard. Lioy's group also conducted research on the relationship between ozone exposure and visits to emergency rooms during the summertime. In 2002, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published an eight-hour NAAQS ozone standard based upon the scientific exposure–response evidence from multiple laboratories that exposures to asthmatics and others to eight hours of ozone above 0.80 ppm. This standard for protection of public health was tightened to 0.75 ppm but remains as an 8-hour contact with the air pollutant, and is in final review for a further tightening of the 8-hour standard.

Semivolatile chemical exposures in the home

In the 1990s Lioy’s laboratory became increasingly focused on dust in the home as a potential metric of exposure to metals and organic compounds. Included was the concurrent scientific issue of the semi-volatility of the materials associated with dust particles. This led to studies that demonstrated that semi-volatile pesticides should not just be considered just residues after application, but as toxin that can be spread throughout the home based process of evaporation and absorption and adsorption. This process was described in an article Published in 1998, and focused on the accumulation of pesticides in children’s toys, and ways to protect toys were summarized in popular magazines and web sites. The work was used in revisions of the EPA standards for use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos indoors. The complex issues of dust and semi-volatile toxins in homes were published in 2002 and 2006 review articles. Additionally he expanded this work to encompass releases and deposition of many chemicals in carpets and other plush surfaces.

Chromium wastes

During the late 1980s the state of NJ discovered that wastes from the refining and production of the chrome plated products had been used as apparent Clean fill in various residential settings, and was also had contaminated a number other industrial locations.Lioy conducted a comprehensive study of chromium wastes in Jersey City, including residential exposures and the bioavailability and size distribution if the wastes. The work found that similar to current lead problems, the chromium exposures indoors were highly related to the levels found in house dust and not ambient air. In addition the use of dust laden corium as a marker of exposure was extremely valuable in conclusively defining that the removal of the wastes in the residential neighborhoods brought the levels of chromium down to background by the end of 2000. The efforts are continuing in Jersey City and are now using analytical methods perfected at EOHSI to measure the levels of the hexavalent chromium (carcinogenic form) in human blood and in the areas around remaining industrial sites, that are beginning to receive final remediation. Acomprehensive review paper on this work was published by Stern, Gochfeld and Lioy.

World Trade Center dust

In the wake of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC), Lioy was able to see the dust plumes from his home in Cranford, New Jersey. The major environmental and occupational health related issue during the aftermath of the building collapses was the size range and composition of the dust and smoke that was released during the first hours to days post collapse of the twin towers, and subsequently the dust that had deposited indoors and required cleanup. In collaboration with multiple laboratories, Lioy examined the composition and size distribution of the WTC dust in detail for inorganic, organic and ionic species. The results were published in a 2002 article entitled Characterization of the dust/smoke aerosol that settled east of the WTC in lower Manhattan after the collapse of the WTC September 11, 2001, and have been used to understand the cause of the WTC cough and other health outcomes. In other work that Lioy and colleagues published through 2009, they described the time line of exposure to the local population and workers from the moments after the collapse through December 2001, and pointed out the many lessons that can be learned from the WTC in order to effectively respond to other disasters. At the time of his death, he was working with Dr. Philip J. Landrigan et al. of Mount Sinai School of Medicine on the long-term health effects experienced by WTC workers. During the aftermath Lioy was interviewed many times by the Media on WTC Dust related issues from October 2001 through 2011 The work of Lioy and his colleagues is mentioned in a book by Anthony Depalma entitled City of Dust: Illness, Arrogance, and 9/11. Lioy published a book on the WTC dust and his experiences entitled Dust: the Inside Story of its Role in the September 11th Aftermath in 2010. In 2009 he received an Ellen Hardin Walworth National Patriotism Medal from the Daughters of the American Revolution for his work on the World Trade Center aftermath.

Nanoparticles

Dr. Lioy's research has expanded to covering exposure of humans to nanoparticles released by Consumer Products.