Newswise — Dr. Stuart Shalat, an expert on pollution and its effect on children’s health, has joined the School of Public Health at Georgia State University as a professor and director of the Division of Environmental Health.

Shalat comes to Georgia State from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, where he taught for 18 years in the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine.

“Stuart will be an incredible asset to Georgia State University, both in terms of his innovative research efforts, as well as his commitment to faculty mentoring,” said Dr. Michael Eriksen, dean of the School of Public Health.

During his decades of research, Shalat has secured numerous federal grants for environmental health studies, totaling more than $7.5 million. His research focuses on the role of genetics and how that role modifies the effects of prenatal and early childhood exposures to environmental toxins.

Shalat also is a pioneer in the use of robotics to improve estimation of early childhood exposures. He authored a paper on the development of the pretoddler inhalable particulate environmental robotic sampler, which more effectively measures the exposure of particulate matter in young children ages 6 months to 3 years.

“I am excited and honored to be joining the School of Public Health,” Shalat said. “Dr. Eriksen has assembled an incredible blend of young, talented researchers and educators combined with experienced and knowledgeable leadership. Most importantly, the students I have had a chance to meet are incredibly bright and energetic, and I can’t wait to have them in my classes.”

Shalat holds a master of science degree in physiology and occupational health and a doctorate of science in epidemiology and physiology from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in epidemiology at Yale University School of Medicine in 1987.

Shalat also has been on the faculty of Texas A&M University, where he was instrumental in developing its School of Public Health, and at Yale University’s School of Public Health.