2002 - Elena Craft, Duke University

Superfund Basic Research Program

2002 Karen Wetterhahn Memorial Award Recipient

The Superfund Basic Research Program (SBRP) is pleased to announce that Elena Craft was the recipient of the Fifth Annual Karen Wetterhahn Memorial Award.   The award was presented to Ms. Craft on November 5, 2002 at the SBRP Annual Meeting in Tucson, Arizona.  

This annual award is given to an outstanding scholar to pay tribute to the life and scientific accomplishments of Karen E. Wetterhahn, former director of the SBRP at Dartmouth College.   Dr. Wetterhahn died June 8, 1997 as the result of an accidental exposure to dimethylmercury.   She was an established authority on the effects of heavy metals on biological systems as well as a dedicated teacher and mentor.

Ms. Craft received the Karen E. Wetterhahn award during the third year of her PhD training at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University, where she participated in the integrated toxicology program with a focus on metal toxicity.   She earned the award based on her research excellence in the characterization of metal responsive signal transduction pathways and the determination of the precise mechanism by which metals activate metal-responsive transcriptions factors.   The model she helped develop will have direct applicability in determining mechanisms by which metals induce intracellular toxicity, disrupt normal development, and induce cancer.

Dr.   Craft completed her Ph. D. training in the summer of 2006 while conducting research at the NIEHS Laboratory of Molecular Toxicology.   Her other research experience relates to PCBs and dioxin, and their effects on thyroid hormones, as related to low frequency hearing loss.   Craft's other experience includes behavioral studies, animal work, cell culture, and protein expression, in addition to molecular biology and toxicological tools.   Upon completing her research with the NIEHS, she accepted an environmental consulting position with ChemRisk (Austin, Texas), a company that specializes in human health risk assessment, in July 2006.   At ChemRisk, she contributed to the litigation support for toxic tort cases, and the summarization of toxicity and exposure information for a variety of chemicals.

Craft continued to participate in SBRP sponsored activities, and, in that same year (2006), she helped write an opinion article with other SBRP staff and trainees, "Prioritizing Environmental Issues around the World: Opinions from an International Central and Eastern European Environmental Health Conference," published in Environmental Health Perspectives.

Dr. Craft joined the Environmental Defense as an Air Quality Specialist for the Houston area in January 2008.   This organization is a leading, national non-profit that links science, economics, law, and private sector partnerships to strategize solutions for environmental problems.   Dr. Craft's new role and responsibilities include formulating and implementing strategies to promote the adoption of air pollution reduction measures (that seek local governmental support).   She will also work with staff from other Environmental Defense facilities in the state to design regulatory, voluntary, legislative, contractual, and/ or other technical solutions to air quality challenges.

The NIEHS congratulates Dr. Craft on her research accomplishments and wishes her continued success in her scientific career.