Dr Karen Galea
Head of Workplace Exposure Science
Karen is a Research Team Lead and Principal Human Exposure Scientist in our Science Insights group. She is actively involved in a wide variety of research projects, mainly focused on exposure assessment relating to health risks. Her research has included inhalation, dermal and biomonitoring measurement and modelling techniques for a range of hazardous substances and occupational situations. Her research extends beyond the working environment e.g. pesticide biomonitoring in residents, reducing children’s exposure to particulate air pollution in Nepal and Indonesia, use of low cost sensors by citizens etc. She is a Board Member of the European Chapter of the International Society of Exposure Science (ISES-Europe) and member of the ISO/TC 146/SC 2/WG 8 “Assessment of contamination of skin and surfaces from airborne chemicals” committee.
Contact Details:
- Office: +44 (0) 131 449 8034
- Mobile: +44 (0) 7818 426 612
- Email: [email protected]
Qualifications:
- PhD Environmental Medicine
- MSc Occupational Hygiene
- BSc (Hons) Environmental Health (First Class)
Committee and Society Memberships:
- Member of the British Occupational Hygiene Society
- Committee member of the UK & Ireland Exposure Science meetings
- Member of the Institution of Environmental Sciences (MIEnvSc)
- Member of the Institute of Science and Technology (MIScT)
- Member of the ISO/TC 146/SC 2/WG 8 “Assessment of contamination of skin and surfaces from airborne chemicals” committees
- Member of the British Standards Institute ‘EH/002/02 Work place atmospheres’ committee
Research Interests:
Highlighted current research interests include:
- IMPRESS – Improving exposure assessment methodologies for epidemiological studies on pesticides, http://www.impress-project.org/
- HBM4EU – https://www.hbm4eu.eu/, in particular the European human biological monitoring study on occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium.
Three most recent publications:
McLean P, Hanlon J, Salmatonidis A, Galea K.S, Brooker F, Citterio C, Magni D, Vázquez-Campos S, Lotti D, Boyles M.S.P. (2024) Safe(r)-by-design principles in the thermoplastics industry: guidance on release assessment during manufacture of nano-enabled products. Frontiers in Public Health; 12. DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2024.1398104.
Christopher, E.A., Christopher-de Vries, Y., Devadoss, A., Mandemaker, L.D.B.,van Boxel, J., Copsey, H.M., Dusza, H.M., Legler, J.,Meirer, F., Muncke, J., Nawrot, T.S., Saenen, N.D., Scholz-Böttcher, B.M., Tran, L., Weckhuysen, B.M., Zou, R., Zimmermann, L., Galea, K.S., Vermeulen, R., Boyles, M.S.P. 2024. Impacts of micro- and nanoplastics on early-life health: a roadmap towards risk assessment. Microplastics and Nanoplastics; 13(4: https://doi.org/10.1186/s43591-024-00089-3
Fuhrimann S, Mueller W, Atuhaire A, Mubeezi R, Ohlander J, Povey A, Basinas I, van Tongeren M, Jones K, Galea KS, Kromhout H, Occupational exposure to pesticides and neurobehavioral outcomes. Impact of different original and recalled exposure measures on the associations, Annals of Work Exposures and Health, 2024;, wxae025, https://doi.org/10.1093/annweh/wxae025