Aaron Specht

My long-term research interests are to develop novel technologies to increase understanding of the role of environmental exposures in human health. My academic background has a strong focus on physics and the sub disciplines of medical and health physics and exposure assessment. My research focuses on exposure assessment and, in particular, x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and its uses in public health. I have particular interest in identifying individual exposure levels to metals and health outcomes resultant from exposures. I have developed a handheld XRF for non-invasive measurement of cumulative exposure to toxicants in bone. I have also been developing a method utilizing a novel bench-top XRF allows us to replace typical expensive, destructive, and costly ICP-MS methods for elemental exposure assessment of a variety of different biomarkers and source exposure markers.