ToxServices Staff
Megan Boylan, M.S. (Associate Toxicologist)
Ms. Megan B. Boylan received her M.S. in
Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University, Rockville, Maryland. Previous to working for ToxServices, Ms. Boylan worked for The Geneva Foundation as a Laboratory Assistant at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense. Since joining ToxServices, Ms. Boylan has developed human health risk assessments many chemicals being added directly and indirectly to drinking water. Ms. Boylan has extensive laboratory experience in both in vivo and in vitro investigational techniques in the areas of inhalation toxicology and genotoxicity.
Ann Marie Gebhart, M.P.H., Ph.D. (Vice President)
Dr. Ann Marie Gebhart is a senior toxicologist and risk assessor who earned both her MPH in Environmental and Industrial Health and PhD in Toxicology from the University of Michigan. She has extensive experience in both the performance and management of product evaluations and human health risk assessments. Prior to joining ToxServices in 2008, Dr. Gebhart was Director of Business and Technical development of the Drinking Water Program at Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) and chair of UL's Environmental and Public Health Council. Prior to joining UL in 1999, she served as Executive Officer of the American Society for Clinical Nutrition and managing editor of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in Bethesda, MD. From 1990 -1997, Dr. Gebhart held a number of positions at NSF International, including Vice President of Technical Operations and Director of Toxicology. At ToxServices, Dr Gebhart serves as the project manager and technical lead on the US Environmental Protection Agency's Design for the Environment Formulator Program and Office of Water contract.
Leslie Patton, Ph.D. (Toxicologist)
Dr. Leslie Patton is an Exposure Assessor and Environmental Toxicologist who received her Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology, with minors in Biological Engineering and Soil Science, from Cornell University. Prior to working at ToxServices, Dr. Patton instructed undergraduate students in the basics of biology, including cellular and membrane structure and organization, cellular respiration and division, and gene expression and regulation. Dr. Patton specializes in the toxicological evaluation and health risk assessment of chemicals extracting into drinking water and chemicals used in consumer products. Dr. Patton reviews and evaluates the formulations of municipal drinking water system components, drinking water treatment units, and drinking water treatment chemicals, and then determines compliance of these products with appropriate health-based standards. Dr. Patton also specializes in regulatory and toxicological evaluations of food contact substances and personal and home care products.
Margaret H Whittaker, Ph.D., M.P.H., D.A.B.T. (Managing Director and Chief Toxicologist)
Dr. Whittaker has over seventeen years of experience in both the performance and management of toxicology and human health risk assessment-related projects. She is currently the Managing Director and Chief Toxicologist of ToxServices LLC, where she serves as the project manager and technical lead of ToxServices projects for the United States Environmental Protection Agency, international certification organizations, testing laboratories, and consumer products companies that manufacture and test products such as cleaning chemicals, fragrance agents, cosmetics, dietary supplements, food additives, drinking water additives, and drinking water system components. As project manager and technical lead for contracts with these organizations, Dr. Whittaker has contributed to and/or managed the development of 500 human health risk assessments, as well as hundreds of product-specific toxicology evaluations.
Dr. Whittaker is a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology who earned a Ph.D. in Toxicology from The University of Maryland, Baltimore and an M.P.H. in Environmental Health from The University of Michigan. Dr. Whittaker is a U.K./Eurotox Registered Toxicologist. Dr. Whittaker has built her career on a foundation grounded in leadership and adherence to details and timelines. One of her first career awards (1992) was a United States Coast Guard Commandant’s Award for Outstanding Civilian Service, where her “alacrity and tenacity” displayed while working on projects associated with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 were officially recognized.
In addition to her extensive program management experience, Dr. Whittaker has extensive technical experience in hazard identification and non-cancer and cancer dose-response assessment, including quantitative risk assessment (e.g., benchmark dose modeling for both carcinogens and non-carcinogens). Prior to creating ToxServices, she worked at two of the country’s leading toxicology and risk assessment consulting firms (The ENVIRON Corporation and The Weinberg Group).
Ms. Susan Goldhaber, M.P.H. (Consultant)
Ms. Susan Goldhaber has 28 years of experience in environmental toxicology and environmental health. She received an MPH from the University of Michigan. Ms Goldhaber is skilled in reviewing and evaluating toxicological literature, and has worked on multiple projects for the EPA, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). For the EPA's National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA), Ms. Goldhaber has prepared a number of Toxicological Review Documents in support of IRIS; for EPA's Office of Water, she has prepared Health Effects Support Documents, Health Advisories, and risk assessment/water quality documents. She contributed a number of background documents for the 11th and 12th Report on Carcinogens for the NIEHS and she authored Toxicological Profiles for ATSDR.
Ms. Ellen Lee, M.H.S. (Consultant)
Ms. Ellen Lee is a toxicologist with 6 years of professional experience. She graduated with an MHS from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, where she also completed the Certificate of Risk Sciences and Public Policy. Ms. Lee previously worked at Health Canada performing chemical health risk assessments in both food and drinking water and overseeing environmental health content in nationally-representative biomonitoring surveys. She has a background in environmental health sciences, toxicology, epidemiology, and risk assessment.
Ms. Callie McLellan (Research Assistant)
Ms. Callie McLellan recently graduated from the University of North Carolina Wilmington with a B.S. in Environmental Science and Marine Biology. Previous to working with ToxServices, Ms. McLellan was an intern with New Hanover Soil & Water Conservation District where her focus was on environmental education and contract management for Best Management Practices to improve area water quality. She will be assisting with project management and client services.
Haithan Askar, PhD, MSc, MEI, MCIBSE (Technical Director)
Dr Askar graduated from the University of Jordan with a BSc in Structural Engineering followed by an MSc and PhD in Applied Energy from Cranfield University. He has extensive experience in renewable energy and energy efficiency, carbon modelling and management, legislation compliance and business management. Previous roles included working as a projects leader at the National Energy Foundation, Research team leader at Carnfield University and also within local government delivering Climate Change strategies, implementing carbon management, climate change mitigation and utility procurement. Dr Askar was responsible for developing a new Strategic Environmental Assessment tool (SEA), to benchmark environmental policies and projects. Dr Askar is a Low Carbon Consultant (Design + simulation) and Level 3 and 4 Non-domestic Energy Assessor. He is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Building Surveryors, Energy Institute, Chartered Engineer with the Royal Institute of Jordanian Engineers. He has had several papers published in Peer journals and conferences, and registered international inventor/ patent holder of innovative method to quantify energy efficiency levels in buildings using (large areas) aerial thermal imaging. At Linden his role as Technical Director involves business development, overseeing project management of various energy and environmental initiatives and ongoing assignments in the public and private sectors, and overseeing technical operations within the company's two locations.
John Christopher, Ph.D., D.A.B.T.
Dr. Christopher is a senior toxicologist and human health risk assessor who has more than 40 years of experience evaluating the safety of industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and pesticides. Dr. Christopher developed and/or supervised development of approximately 20 Applied Action Levels for California Department of Toxic Substances Control. Together with other scientists in Federal and State governments in Western states, Dr. Christopher worked with the U. S. EPA Region 9 Biological Technical Assistance Group in developing Toxicity Reference Values for some 30 chemicals. Dr. Christopher has served on more than 30 occasions as an invited peer reviewer of hazard identification and dose-response assessment of chemicals for the U.S. EPA, Department of Defense, Health Canada, Environmental Canada, and parties in the private sector. He consulted for the U.S. EPA Office of Water on the Health Advisory for methyl-tert-butyl ether in 1997. He served as a peer consultant for EPA’s Voluntary Children’s Chemical Evaluation Program (2006-2007). He participated in external peer reviews of toxicological risk assessments for U.S. EPA’s IRIS database (2000-2007). From 1997 to the present, he has served as a peer reviewer for Health Canada’s existing chemicals program. From 1996 to the present, he has provided review of health and environmental effects of chemicals on peer review and peer consultation organized by Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA), a non-profit consulting firm. Dr. Christopher has participated in peer review panels (1997-present) for risk assessments of acrylamide, acrylonitrile, hexavelent chromium, and methyl mercury. Dr. Christopher served as a regulatory toxicologist with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control for twenty years before entering the private sector.
Mouna Zachary, Ph.D.
Dr. Mouna Zachary is a chemist who specializes in the use of Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship (QSAR) software to help businesses assess and predict the the behavior of chemical compounds in environmental systems. Dr. Zachary conducts PBT, endocrine disruptor, and mutagenicity screenings for chemicals of interest, and excels in comparative hazard assessment. She has expertise in both European and North American regulations pertaining to chemicals, and has conducted numerous workshops pertaining to REACH compliance and appropriate use of QSAR software.
Experience
Toxicology and Chemical Risk Assessment
