The State Hygienic Laboratory recently welcomed Nathan Bullock as an Environmental Public Health Fellow assigned for one year to work on a biomonitoring project at the Iowa Laboratories Facility in Ankeny. The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) and the Centers for Disease Control are sponsors of this fellowship.

Nathan Bullock

Through biomonitoring, scientists monitor and examine the impact of environmental contaminants on human health. Bullock will be working on a project to measure levels of arsenic in urine. This fellowship is a continuation of a similar project began by the previous Environmental Health Fellow Megan Mekoli, Ph.D.

“This fellowship is a great opportunity to combine two great passions of mine: science and education,” Bullock said. “This scientific portion is concerned with quantifying mercury, cadmium, lead and arsenic in human urine. These elements are commonly found in industrialized nations that have a heavy usage of coal fuel. The educational portion is interesting because of the need for the public to be aware of scientific advances and how this relates to the greater public.”

Bullock earned his master’s degree in chemistry from Arkansas State University and bachelor’s from Southern Arkansas University.

The Environmental Public Health Laboratory Fellowship Program is designed to help strengthen local, state and federal public health infrastructures to support surveillance, and implement prevention and control programs specific to environmental health initiatives. The fellowship also promotes and supports public health and environmental laboratories by easing their workforce shortage.

The program supports APHL-member public health and environmental laboratories by enhancing their capabilities in clinical testing for environmental exposures, and provides fellows with the opportunity to obtain a working knowledge of specific technologies and real-world laboratory practices. It also adds to the fellow's scope and understanding of public health research, and provides leadership opportunities.