Portable x-ray fluorescence for bone lead measurement: Current approaches and future directions.
Specht AJ, Hoover C, Grier T.
Curr Environ Health Rep. 2024 May 22. PMID: 38776000
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.
B.S., 2012, Honors Physics
Purdue University
PhD, 2016, Medical Physics
Purdue University
Specht AJ, Hoover C, Grier T.
Curr Environ Health Rep. 2024 May 22. PMID: 38776000
Nissaisorakarn V, Specht A, Danziger J.
Environ Health Perspect. 2024 Apr. 132(4):47702. PMID: 38683746
Farmer JG, Specht A, Punshon T, Jackson BP, Bidlack FB, Bakalar CA, Mukherjee R, Davis M, Steadman DW, Weisskopf MG.
Sci Total Environ. 2024 Jun 01. 927:171975. PMID: 38547974
Hoover C, Fossa AJ, Ranney ML, Hoover GG, Specht AJ, Hemenway D, Braun JM.
J Pediatr. 2024 Jun. 269:113975. PMID: 38401786
Reuben A, Ward R, Rothbaum AO, Cornelison VL, Huffman S, McTeague LM, Schmidt MG, Specht AJ, Kilpatrick DG.
Occup Environ Med. 2024 Feb 02. 81(2):101-108. PMID: 38272665
Specht AJ, Adesina KE, Read DE, Weisskopf MG.
Sci Total Environ. 2024 Mar 25. 918:170601. PMID: 38309346
Celis JE, Espejo W, Montes IY, Sandoval M, Specht AJ, Banegas-Medina A.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2023 Nov. 196:115648. PMID: 37844481
Hampton JO, Lohr MT, Specht AJ, Nzabanita D, Hufschmid J, Berger L, McGinnis K, Melville J, Bennett E, Pay JM.
Environ Pollut. 2023 Sep 01. 332:122004. PMID: 37302786
Paudel S, Geetha P, Kyriazis P, Specht A, Hu H, Danziger J.
Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2023 05 04. 38(5):1337-1339. PMID: 36549667
Sowers D, Caffrey E, Harris J, Specht A, Hamrick B, Frandsen J, Dant T.
Health Phys. 2023 Aug 01. 125(2):147-151. PMID: 37071047
In Massachusetts towns with more guns, there are more suicides—and blood lead levels in a community appear to play a role in the link, according to a new study from Harvard Chan School.