Meet a Few of Our Postdoctoral Fellows

Michael Breen, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
EPA's National Center for Computational Toxicology.

"I truly enjoy the interesting research projects and outstanding mentoring available at EPA as well as the tremendous training opportunities at local universities and biotechnology organizations and companies in the Research Triangle, and the sensational Carolina weather."

Research Area:
Michael Breen received his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Case Western University in 2004. His research at EPA focuses on developing and applying computational systems biology tools and models that will improve our understanding of the complex linkages between chemical exposures, biological dose, early effects, altered structure and function, and human disease. In particular, his research will provide mechanistic mathematical models to predict dose-response relationships for a wide variety of environmental chemicals. These models will be coupled to existing exposure models to represent likely responses due to relevant human exposure conditions.

Richard Lavrich, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
EPA's National Risk Management Reseach Laboratory

"Working within the EPA has been a rewarding and stimulating experience. Being part of a team involved in unraveling the complex nature of the chemical composition of fine particulate matter has been a fascinating endeavor."

Research Area:
Richard Lavrich received a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Kent State University in 2001. His research at EPA focuses on the development of novel methods for the identification and quantification of organic molecules in the carbonaceous portion of fine particulate matter. Recent efforts have been dedicated to the application of thermal methods to extract the semivolatile components of fine particulate matter (PM) for chemical analysis. His research aims to provide information about the determination of PM source characteristics; air quality model development; estimation of PM exposures due to sources; and potential assessment of the biotoxic constituents of PM by size.

Rachelle Duvall, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
EPA's National Exposure Research Laboratory

"I received an article last year about EPA's ranking as 'Best Places for Postdocs to Work' which helped me make the decision to work here. I am glad that EPA made the top of the list again this year and deservedly so! I have had a rewarding experience so far. I am involved in fascinating research and I also find that I'm constantly learning new things which is great. EPA also has exceptional mentors which have helped me greatly. Also, having spent most of my life in areas with very cold winters, I'm really enjoying the warmer winters in North Carolina."

Research Area:
Rachelle Duvall obtained her Ph.D. in civil & environmental engineering with a focus on air pollution control from the University of Wisconsin- Madison in 2005. Dr. Duvall's research at EPA focuses on determining sources of air pollution such as motor vehicles and coal combustion using a variety of source-receptor models. In addition, she is linking sources to health effects such as lung inflammation and respiratory disease to identify which particulate matter sources are responsible for specific health impacts.

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