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Human Studies Divison
Mission & Objective
Human Studies Division Navigation
HSD conducts clinical studies for research questions which are best approached experimentally by monitoring or administering exposures under highly controlled laboratory settings, or where the evaluation of effects requires complex laboratory procedures.
Epidemiologic investigations study humans in less rigidly controlled, more natural settings by field studies or analysis of existing data. Biomarker methods for exposure, dose and susceptibility will be developed for and applied to a range of health effects including cancer, reproductive effects, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory effects.
Laboratory analyses are used to improve assessments of exposure, biologically relevant doses, adverse biological or health effects, as well as to investigate mechanisms linking these phenomena. Studies are frequently designed and analyzed so as to characterize the similarities or differences between effects observed in humans and animals or in vitro systems; the data are then used by the Agency for risk assessment in the absence of human data.
Investigations conducted by this division frequently involve collaborations within and outside the Agency, and emphasize interdisciplinary approaches that integrate complex data from existing records, questionnaires, clinical, and laboratory studies. The physical setting and collaborative relationships facilitate clinical research with patients as well as healthy volunteers. If you would like to volunteer to participate in a study, please review the information at our subject-recruiting website: http://www.epastudies.org/home.htm.