Dr. Vorhees specializes in the fields of multi-pathway exposure assessment and human health risk assessment. She has particular expertise related to petroleum products and persistent organochlorine compounds, such as PCBs and dioxin, at a wide range of contaminated aquatic sites, terrestrial sites, and indoor environments.
Her research interests include development of probabilistic human exposure models, collection of data needed to support risk-based decisions such as field surveys to collect data needed to support risk assessment such as samples of biota consumed by humans and interviews of anglers regarding fish consumption practices, and use of risk assessment to support decision-making in a variety of contexts, such as dredged-material management and protection of children’s health.
Dr. Vorhees is also an adjunct assistant professor at the Boston University School of Public Health where she teaches a course in risk assessment methods. Dr. Vorhees is an active member of the Society for Risk Analysis and has served on two National Research Council Committees (Health Risks of Phthalates and Sediment Dredging at Superfund Megasites).
Education
Dr. Vorhees earned her B.S. from Bethany College in West Virginia and her master’s degree and doctoral degree in Environmental Health from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Recent Publications
Gustavson KE, Burton GA, Francingues NR, Reible DD, Vorhees DJ, Wolfe JR. 2008. Evaluating the Effectiveness of Sediment Dredging. Submitted to Environmental Science & Technology, 42(14): 5042-5047.
Baird, S.J.S., E.A. Bailey, and D.J. Vorhees. 2007. Evaluating Human Risk from Exposure to Alkylated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in an Aquatic System. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment, Volume 13, Issue 2, pp. 322-338 (March 2007).
Vorhees, D.J. and D. Murray. 2005. Appendix H: Quantitative Human Health Risk Assessment for the Subsurface Vapor Intrusion Pathway. In: Reference Handbook for Site-Specific Assessment of Subsurface Vapor Intrusion to Indoor Air. Electric Power Research Institute, Final Report 1008492. March 2005.
Vorhees, D.J. 2004. Introduction: Defining Fish Consumption Patterns for Use in Human Health Risk Assessment. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment, Volume 10, pp. 965-966. Guest Editor.
Contact Information
Telephone: 617.459.7987