Establishing UW-Madison as a leader on human exposure to PFAS

PI: Christy Remucal, professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of the Aquatic Sciences Center

Co-PI:

Amy Schultz, senior scientist for Population Health Sciences

Co-Investigators:

Matthew Blum, assistant professor of Medicine

Lyn Van Swol, professor of Communication Arts

Haoran Wei, associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Description: Environmental contamination by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is a major concern for human health. These persistent chemicals have been used in numerous industrial and consumer applications since the 1940s and are associated with cancer, immune suppression, and thyroid, kidney, and liver disease.

This project will investigate the relationship between PFAS contamination in private groundwater wells and PFAS levels in people in a rural community in Wisconsin. This interdisciplinary team includes researchers with expertise in environmental chemistry, epidemiology, human health and risk communication, which is critical for addressing this complex issue. This project represents the first step in a long-term plan of establishing UW–Madison as a leader in assessing, predicting, and mitigating human exposure to PFAS.