Howard Mielke
Adjunct Professor
Department of Pharmacology, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, USA
Biography
Dr. Howard W. Mielke, PhD, is recognized as an influential environmental health scientist of the past half- century. His groundbreaking research in Baltimore and the Minnesota fundamentally reshaped U.S. understanding of the sources of childhood lead exposure. When lead paint was widely assumed to be the dominant cause, Mielke’s evidence-based urban mapping work demonstrated that leaded petrol exhaust was the primary lead exposure source in urban environments. His studies resulted in an invitation to testify before the U.S. Senate, and he helped Congress and the EPA with the rapid phase down of lead additives in U.S. by January 1, 1986. In 1990, he began a series of studies in New Orleans as a faculty member of the College of Pharmacy, Xavier University of Louisiana. After Hurricane Katrina, he was invited to Tulane University and conducted studies in the Center for Bioenvironmental Research. In 2012 he joined the Pharmacology Department, Tulane University School of Medicine. UNEP, WHO, and the World Bank repeatedly drew on evidence from Mielke and related research to advocate the global elimination of leaded petrol. These organizations cited his findings when communicating the health benefits of the phaseout. Dr. Mielke currently resides in Seattle, WA.