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EDS-Connect Symposium

Join researchers, students, and industry leaders to explore how data science is shaping the future of environmental health.

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2026 Environmental Data Sciences Symposium

Friday, October 16th, 2026 8:15 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

North Carolina Biotechnology Center

Schedule

  • 8:15 – 9:00 a.m. Breakfast
  • 9:00 – 9:10 a.m. Opening Remarks
  • 9:10 – 9:50 a.m. (Keynote) Dr. Chirag Patel, Harvard, “Advances in phenome-wide association: integrating the proteome and exposome”
  • 9:50 – 10:10 a.m. Dr. Alison Motsinger-Reif, The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, “Environmental Health in All of Us”
  • 10:10 – 10:30 a.m. Dr. John House, The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, “Untargeted Exposomics and Type II Diabetes in All of Us”
  • 10:30 – 10:50 a.m. Break
  • 10:50 – 11:10 a.m. Dr. John Wambaugh, ULRI, “Informatic Tools to Rapidly Inform Chemical Risk”
  • 11:10 – 11:30 a.m. Dr. David Reif, The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, “Advancing Precision and Predictive Toxicology”
  • 11:30 – 11:50 a.m. Dr. Denis Fourches, Sciome, “OrbiTox and other Innovations at Sciome: Enabling Cheminformatics for Predictive Toxicology”
  • 11:50 – 1:20 p.m. Poster session and Lunch
  • 1:20 – 2:00 p.m. (Keynote) Dr. Katie Paul Friedman, ULRI, “Using Data Science to Accelerate Chemical Safety Decisions”
  • 2:00 – 2:20 p.m. Dr. Julia Rager, UNC Chapel Hill, “Solutions to improve trainee skills in data science in environmental health and AI/ML: the TAME toolkit”
  • 2:20 – 2:40 p.m. Dr. Carolyn Mattingly, NC State University, “The Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD): An Integrated Data Platform for Environmental Health Discovery”
  • 2:40 – 3:00 p.m. Afternoon Break
  • 3:20 – 3:40 p.m. Dr. Kara Joseph (Baker lab), UNC Chapel Hill, “Using Mammalian Milk to Expand the Environmental PFAS Landscape”
  • 3:00 – 3:20 p.m. Dr. Kara Joseph (Baker lab), UNC Chapel Hill, “Using Mammalian Milk to Expand the Environmental PFAS Landscape”
  • 3:20 – 3:40 p.m. Dr. David Carlson, Duke University, “Estimating Urban Heat Mitigation Effects: Statistical Tools for Climate Adaptation”
  • 3:40 – 4:00 p.m. Dr. Meghan Hegarty-Craver, RTI, “Environmentally Aware Digital Twins: From Smart Cities to Human Physiological Systems”

Keynote Speakers:

Dr. Chirag Patel
Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Chirag Patel is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School whose research focuses on using computational and bioinformatics approaches to better understand human health and disease.

As a keynote speaker for the 2026 Environmental Data Sciences Symposium, Dr. Patel will present “Advances in Phenome-Wide Association: Integrating The Proteome And Exposome,” highlighting approaches for using large and complex datasets to advance our understanding of human health.

Dr. Katie Paul Friedman
Director, Center for Chemical Informatics and Screening, UL Research Institutes

Dr. Katie Paul Friedman will explore how data science and toxicology are transforming chemical safety evaluation through the use of complex data to inform efficient approaches to evaluating chemical safety.

As a keynote speaker for the 2026 Environmental Data Sciences Symposium, Dr. Paul-Friedman will present “Using Data Science to Accelerate Chemical Safety Decisions,” demonstrating the impact that data science can have on the protection of people and the environment.

For More Information

Contact Julia Reynolds, University Associate, Bioinformatics Research Center at [email protected]

With Gratitude To Our Sponsors

The EDS-Connect Symposium is made possible through the generous support of our sponsors and funding partners, including the Goodnight Faculty Innovation Award.