Environmental Health Science Jane Hoppin
Professor, Biological Sciences
Jane Hoppin joined NC State in August 2013 as a Chancellor’s Faculty Excellence Program cluster hire in Environmental Health Science. She is a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, an NC State University Faculty Scholar, a member of the graduate program in toxicology and environmental health sciences, and deputy director of the Center for Human Health and the Environment (CHHE). Hoppin is an internationally-renowned environmental epidemiologist focusing on human health effects associated with environmental exposures, with an emphasis on respiratory disease associated with pesticides. Hoppin works with populations with known and well-characterized pesticide exposures: farmers and women and children living in the banana-growing regions of Costa Rica. Part of her human health research program at NC State centers on communicating results back to affected individuals and communities, as well as a better understanding of chemical mixtures and their health effects.
In response to the emerging health concern about GenX and other PFAS (per and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in the drinking water in Wilmington and Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 2017, Hoppin created the GenX Exposure Study. This project leverages the expertise of the Environmental Health Sciences faculty cluster and the CHHE to help respond to this issue in a timely fashion. This project engages community members, public health agencies, students, and faculty at NC State, East Carolina University, UNC-Wilmington and others in the region. The GenX Exposure Study is collecting both biological (blood, urine) and environmental (water, dust, wristbands) to characterize human exposure to PFAS; the study is reporting results to individuals and the community in a timely fashion.
Previously, Hoppin was a staff scientist at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and co-Principal Investigator (PI) of the Agricultural Health Study, a large prospective study of farmers and their spouses in North Carolina and Iowa. In 2010, she was named Staff Scientist of the Year at NIEHS. She received her bachelor of science in environmental toxicology from the University of California, Davis. Hoppin received her master’s degree in environmental health sciences and then her Sc.D. in environmental health and epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. Following a post-doctoral fellowship at Emory University, Hoppin joined the Epidemiology Branch of NIEHS in 1999 and developed her research on the human health effects of pesticides. Hoppin serves as an associate editor for Environmental Health Perspectives, Environmental Epidemiology, and PLOS One. She holds adjunct appointments at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. She sits on several advisory boards at institutions including UNC-Chapel Hill and the University of Iowa.
