Donna Vorhees
Profiles

Donna J Vorhees, ScD

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Environmental Health - Boston University School of Public Health

(617) 358-2322
dvorhees@bu.edu
Talbot
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Biography

Donna Vorhees directs the Energy Research Program at HEI. She is leading an effort to develop and implement a Strategic Scientific Research Agenda designed to understand potential human exposures and health effects from unconventional oil and gas development and how they might be prevented or minimized. Vorhees has 25 years of consulting experience, assessing multi-pathway chemical exposures in indoor and outdoor environments, quantifying human health risks, and communicating risks to affected communities in the United States on behalf of government and private clients and internationally on behalf of the United Nations Environment Program. She serves on the U.S. EPA Board of Scientific Counselors Subcommittee on Chemical Safety for Sustainability and previously served on National Research Council committees (Health Risks of Phthalates and Sediment Dredging at Superfund Megasites), other advisory committees, and peer review panels for numerous health risk assessments prepared by the U.S. EPA, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and Health Canada. She is Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Boston University School of Public Health where she teaches Risk Assessment Methods. Vorhees received her Sc.M. and Sc.D. in Environmental Health from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Education

  • Harvard School of Public Health, ScD Field of Study: Environmental Health
  • Harvard School of Public Health, SM/ScM Field of Study: Environmental Health
  • Bethany College, BS Field of Study: Biology

Websites

Publications

  • Published on 4/3/2025

    Ariana A, Cozzarelli I, Danforth C, McDevitt B, Rosofsky A, Vorhees D. Pathways for Potential Exposure to Onshore Oil and Gas Wastewater: What We Need to Know to Protect Human Health. Geohealth. 2025 Apr; 9(4):e2024GH001263. PMID: 40182626.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 1/20/2025

    Peng W, Anenberg S, Bistline J, Budolfson M, Constantino SM, Crawford K, Davis K, DeCarlo P, Fawcett A, Hashimoto H, Helgeson C, Huang X, Iyer G, Keller K, Kennard H, Kennedy KM, Laumbach R, Limaye V, Mayfield E, McFarland J, Meyer M, Miller P, Place A, Roy N, Schell C, Scovronick N, Smith SJ, Srikrishnan V, Vorhees D, Xie Y. Seizing the policy opportunities for health- and equity-improving energy decisions. One Earth. 2025 Feb 21; 8(2). PMID: 40687271.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 2/20/2023

    Rosofsky AS, Vorhees DJ. Bringing Multisectoral and Multidisciplinary Stakeholders Together to Optimize Environmental Health Research. Geohealth. 2023 Feb; 7(2):e2022GH000746. PMID: 36825115.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 8/8/2018

    Leibler JH, Basra K, Ireland T, McDonagh A, Ressijac C, Heiger-Bernays W, Vorhees D, Rosenbaum M. Lead exposure to children from consumption of backyard chicken eggs. Environ Res. 2018 11; 167:445-452. PMID: 30125763.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 1/1/2018

    Leibler J, Basra K, Ireland T, McDonagh A, Ressijac C, Heiger-Bernays W, Vorhees D, Rosenbaum, M. Lead exposure to children from consumption of backyard chicken eggs. Environmental Research. 2018.
  • Published on 3/30/2017

    Cowell W, Ireland T, Vorhees D, Heiger-Bernays W. Ground Turmeric as a Source of Lead Exposure in the United States. Public Health Rep. 2017 May/Jun; 132(3):289-293. PMID: 28358991.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 1/1/2017

    Cowell W, Ireland T, Vorhees D, Heiger-Bernays W. Ground Turmeric as a Source of Lead Exposure in the United States. Public Health Reports. 2017; 132(3):1-5.
  • Published on 11/6/2015

    Kponee KZ, Chiger A, Kakulu II, Vorhees D, Heiger-Bernays W. Petroleum contaminated water and health symptoms: a cross-sectional pilot study in a rural Nigerian community. Environ Health. 2015; 14:86. PMID: 26546277.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 1/1/2015

    Kponee KZ, Chiger A, Kakulu II, Vorhees DJ, Heiger-Bernays W. Petroleum Contaminated Water and Health Symptoms: A Cross-Sectional Pilot Study in a Rural Nigerian Community. Environmental Health. 2015; 14:86.
  • Published on 1/1/2012

    Evans JS, Vorhees DJ, Hussain A, Al-Zenki S, Akashah MS. Fish Consumption, Mercury Intake, and Associated Health Risks to the Kuwaiti Population. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment. 2012; 18(5):1014-1035.

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