Green Ribbon Science Panel Members

Mike is Quality Director at S.C. Johnson & Son with a scope that is global in nature across a diverse section of consumer and professional products. His broad view of the impact of the Safer Consumer Products regulations is based upon the wide range of related activities his career has shown him, particularly many years in the regulatory affairs area.

Mike started his career as a research synthetic chemist and formulator in the Specialty Chemicals industry, before moving into Technical Service assisting customers formulate finished goods while obtaining his MBA. This led to management positions across a number of areas within chemical industry giants PPG Industries and BASF including government affairs; industrial hygiene; safety; global chemical inventory compliance; environmental compliance in air, water and waste for multiple manufacturing locations; security; food, drug and cosmetic compliance; pesticide product registration; Good Laboratory Practices and current Good Manufacturing Practices; Quality Audits; Environment Health and Safety Audits; transportation of dangerous goods; Product Stewardship; and more.

This was an ideal background for his move into the Consumer Products industry, first at Kimberly-Clark Corporation and then S.C. Johnson. His knowledge of the chemicals that go into the products and how they were manufactured allows for a more complete evaluation and understanding of potential issues, and the ability to make regulatory compliance a value added proposition to business rather than just a dreaded must have.

Throughout, he has believed that the best strategy to comply with a regulation is to work with the regulators, by the local, state, federal or international. A simple question up front can save a lot of wasted effort later; a partnership can lead to mutual understanding and assistance, which is critical at a time when everyone is stretched thin.

Additionally, beside volunteering for too many seasons to count as a youth soccer coach, he has served on a volunteer basis as a board member of not-for-profit agencies and Local Emergency Planning Commissions, the latter of which adds a totally different perspective when considering chemicals to be used.

Mike resides in Milwaukee with his wife and golden retriever.

Molly Jacobs is Director of Applied Research for the Sustainable Chemistry Catalyst (the Catalyst), a research institute at the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production located at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Molly has over 20 years of experience in public health research and practice, engaging with a variety of organizations to promote effective disease prevention solutions. Since 2013, she has managed the Catalyst’s extensive alternatives assessment and informed substitution work. This has included: supporting governments in the US and internationally to institute programmatic and policy structures that advance informed substitution efforts, including the use of alternatives assessment; co-authoring state of the art reviews and helping to set research and practice agendas for the field of alternatives assessment; and developing capacity building resources and materials.

Molly is deeply involved in the operations of the Association for the Advancement of Alternatives Assessment (A4), helping to form the professional society in 2018, and currently serving on its Executive Council and Program Committee. Molly’s research at the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production has also examined other environmental health issues, utilizing her deep expertise on the environmental and occupational causes of cancer and asthma.  Molly received her MPH with a concentration in environmental health and epidemiology from Boston University and her BA in biology and environmental studies from the University of California Santa Cruz.

Dr. Blake’s experience spans regulatory enforcement, pollution prevention, alternatives analysis and standards-setting as well as legislative policy. Prior to consulting, Dr. Blake worked for the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Department of Toxic Substances Control as a hazardous waste inspector and Northern California Pollution Prevention Coordinator. In March 2022, Ann took on the role of Executive Director of the Jenifer Altman Foundation in Bolinas, California, supporting environmental health and justice efforts globally

Dr. Blake holds a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, and a Ph.D. in molecular genetics and neural development from the University of Oregon. Dr. Blake’s interest in green chemistry lies with the opportunity to create pragmatic solutions with a broad range of stakeholders to move us collectively towards a more sustainable economy that provides jobs and growth while protecting the health of individuals, communities and our environment.

Dr. Susanne Brander is an Associate Professor in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University, and previous to this was faculty at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (2013-2017). Brander’s research program, funded by NOAA, the EPA, the NSF, and California state agencies, encompasses the fields of toxicology, endocrinology, and ecology, integrating molecular approaches with measurements at the organism and population level. Her current focus is on the effects of stressors, such as emerging pollutants, microplastics, and climate change, on aquatic organisms. Much of her work uses a model estuarine fish, the Inland silverside, to measure sublethal responses to pollutant exposure under environmentally realistic scenarios or across multiple generations. Brander’s group conducts interdisciplinary research and thus she collaborates with ecologists, oceanographers, and fisheries biologists, among other fields. She received a Ph.D. in Toxicology and Pharmacology from UC Davis in 2011, conducting research mainly based at the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory.

She also has an M.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from Johns Hopkins University (2005) and a B.S. from Elizabethtown College (1999). Although Brander has mainly worked in academia, she also has the perspective of an industry scientist having worked as an Environmental Analyst and Project Scientist at Weston Solutions, Inc. between her M.S. and Ph.D degrees. In addition to the Green Ribbon Science Panel, Brander also currently serves on the board of directors for the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, North America and as a co-chair for the California Ocean Protection Council’s Science Advisory Team on microplastics.

Art Fong is the Environmental Technologies Smarter Chemistry Technical Leader at Apple, driving Apple’s efforts to remove harmful substances from its product designs and develop safer alternatives.

Art is engaged in a number of collaborative projects to advance the science and practice of green, sustainable chemistry to catalyze change across the electronics industry and beyond. He is co-chair of CHEMFORWARD’s Technical Advisory Group, working to guide hazard assessment harmonization, data quality, process transparency, and scientific integrity to identify chemicals that are inherently benign for their intended use. He is on the Design Team of the the Clean Electronics Production Network, which unites diverse stakeholders to understand, address, and eliminate workers’ exposure to toxic chemicals in the electronics supply chain. He is also a member of the Science Advisory Committee of GreenScreen® for Safer Chemicals, a method for comparative chemical hazard assessment that can be used for identifying chemicals of high concern and safer alternatives.

Art is a product of the University of California educational system, receiving his undergraduate degree from UC Davis and his Ph.D. from UC Irvine.

Helen Holder is a Master Engineer at Hewlett-Packard, where she leads the Global Environmental Materials team. In her current role, she evaluates and qualifies materials for use in HP products, including plastics and additives, solders, fluxes, printed circuit board surface finishes, and other electronic materials. In this role, she has introduced environmental and human health criteria into technical specifications to complement traditional performance, cost, safety, and reliability requirements in materials selection.

Ms. Holder started her career at HP in 1993, and has worked in a variety of manufacturing, materials, and procurement roles within the company. She received her Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, where she was an HP Resident Fellow.

Elaine Cohen Hubal has over 25 years of experience in the field of environmental health with broad scientific background in environmental science, human exposure, and chemical safety evaluation.  Her primary research interests are in understanding complex systems at the nexus of the natural environment, built environment, and human health with an emphasis on impacts to vulnerable groups. 

She has served in a series of science leadership positions in EPA’s Office of Research and Development where she currently works as a Senior Science Advisor in EPA’s Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment.  In this capacity, Dr. Cohen Hubal leads the ORD research efforts to advance models for estimating human exposure to Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and as EPA PI on an Interagency Agreement with CDC/ATSDR to investigate PFAS exposures in impacted communities. She is also focused on translating EPA exposure information and tools for use by multiple sectors to generate new insights, and working with stakeholders in government, industry and academia to access and apply EPA information and tools to inform decisions on chemicals and products.  

Previously, Dr Cohen Hubal served as Deputy National Program Director for EPA’s Chemical Safety for Sustainability research program.  She also served as Acting Director of the Integrated Systems Toxicology and as Acting Director of the Computational Exposure Division.  Dr. Cohen Hubal has served as an expert on a variety of scientific panels and committees. Currently, she is Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology; is a core member of the Health Canada and Environment Canada Chemicals Management Plan Science Committee; and is a member of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control’s Green Ribbon Science Panel.  Dr. Cohen Hubal received her Ph.D. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University and a S.B. in Chemical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Dr. Kausch is the Principal Sustainability Lead for the Amazon Device Supply Chain. His team drives supply chain decarbonization for Echo, Kindle, Fire tablet, Fire TV, Ring, Blink, and eero devices and accessories, aligning with Amazon’s Climate Pledge commitment. Kausch’s expertise extends to partnering with suppliers to decrease waste from manufacturing sites, transition to renewable energy, and advancing Safer Chemistry practices.

Prior to Amazon, Dr. Kausch worked at the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute where he has served as the Technical Director for eight years, leading audit operations for the third-party product assessment and the Material Health technical advisory group for the Cradle to Cradle Certified Product Standard. His contributions were instrumental in the early development and launch of ChemForward, a platform for chemical hazard assessment and optimization.

Dr. Kausch holds a PhD in Environmental Science from UC Berkley and a BSc in Geosciences and Astrophysics from Jacobs University in Germany.

Emma T. Lavoie, PhD is Senior Science Advisor in the Immediate Office of the Assistant Administrator for Research and Development at the US Environmental Protection Agency.  Dr. Lavoie provides strategic support and scientific advice to office leadership and scientific staff.

She joined the Office of Research and Development in 2016 after nine years in OCSPP/OPPT’s Design for the Environment Branch where she began her EPA career as an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow in 2007.  During her time with OCSPP, she led Alternatives Assessments for flame retardants and maintained and grew the Safer Chemical Ingredient List that includes a variety of chemistries including surfactants, solvents, preservatives and fragrances and totaled hundreds of carefully reviewed chemicals.  She was also involved in developing the DfE criteria for safer chemicals and a variety of TSCA work on existing chemicals including workplan risk assessments.

Dr. Lavoie has interdisciplinary biology and toxicology training from research experience at the bench and in the field with molecular to organismal level investigations and a diversity of associated publications.  In combination with her government science and policy experience, her background yields an interactional expertise providing valuable support in a variety of scientific disciplines and solution-driven research.

Dr. Jack Linard obtained his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry at Northwestern University, after receiving his B.S. in Chemistry from Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina. He worked for Unilever for over 36 years in a variety of roles in laundry and personal care R&D before taking on the responsibility for Unilever’s North American Personal Care Regulatory Affairs team. During this time he was heavily involved in working with various stakeholders from industry, NGO’s, and government on regulatory issues, including the implementation of California’s Safer Consumer Products regulation, which affect the personal care industry.

After leaving Unilever in 2019, Dr. Linard now works as a consultant on Personal Care regulatory issues for various stakeholders, focusing on air quality and product safety.

Professor Malloy teaches Environmental Aspects of Business Transactions, Regulatory Lawyering, Regulation of the Business Firm, Environmental Policy and Politics and Contracts. He is the faculty director of the interdisciplinary UCLA Sustainable Technology and Policy Program, and a member of the Center on Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology. He joined the UCLA Law faculty in 1998, after spending a combined 11 years in practice at private firms and at the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region III.

Professor Malloy’s research interests focus on environmental, chemical and nanotechnology policy, regulatory policy, and organizational theory and decision analysis, with particular emphasis on the relationship between regulatory design and implementation and the structure of business organizations. In addition, he has worked and written extensively in the area of risk governance and prevention-based regulation, melding together his academic interests with his work in the Sustainable Technology and Policy Program.

Heather McKenney serves as the Science and Safer Chemistry Lead at ChemFORWARD, where she drives efforts to enhance access to high quality chemical hazard data and amplify safer alternatives. She oversees the quality and integrity of data within ChemFORWARD’s data trust and plays a key role in science communication. Heather collaborates with industry, NGO, and governmental stakeholders across various sectors, including beauty and personal care, electronics, the built environment, and plastic packaging.

Beginning her career in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry, Heather led the Toxicology and Product Safety team for The Honest Company for six years. In this role, she oversaw ingredient and product safety review and substantiation and clinical safety testing while supporting regulatory compliance, governmental affairs, and science communication for beauty and personal care, cleaning, and baby products. She is a member of the March of Dimes Mom and Baby Action Network (M-BAN) where she supports M-BANs goal in achieving equity in maternal and infant health by mitigating high-risk environmental exposures. 

Heather holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) concentrating in Environmental Health from Boston University School of Public Health and BS in Environmental Science from Indiana University Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI). Heather resides in Los Angeles, CA.

Dr. Kelly Moran is a Senior Scientist at the San Francisco Estuary Institute. She investigates contaminants of emerging concern and microplastics in the San Francisco Bay and other regions of California. For the last 25 years Dr. Moran has worked at the interface of science and public policy, assisting government agencies with managing water pollution from consumer products. Dr. Moran specializes in identifying linkages between products and surface water quality and developing science-based approaches to prevent water pollution while avoiding regrettable substitutions. Her work spans a range of pollutants, product types, and environmental transport pathways. She co-founded the Brake Pad Partnership and the Urban Pesticides Pollution Prevention Partnership. Dr. Moran has served on many advisory panels including the California Source Reduction Advisory Committee and the City of San Mateo Planning Commission. She received a B.S. in Chemistry with Honors from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from U.C. Berkeley.”

Professor Julie M. Schoenung is the Founding Department Chair in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), established in 2018, and the Co-Director of the Lincoln Dynamic Foundation World Institute for Sustainable Development of Materials (WISDOM) at UCI, established in 2020. She received her Ph.D. and M.S. in materials engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a B.S. in ceramic engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Professor Schoenung is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), TMS, ASM International, the American Ceramic Society, and the Alpha Sigma Mu Honor Society. She was recently selected to be the recipient of the Gold Medal Award (to be awarded in 2023) and the Edward DeMille Campbell Memorial Lectureship, both from ASM International, the inaugural Innovation in Research Award from Materials Science & Engineering-A, and the Holloman Award for Materials & Society from Acta Materialia, Inc..

Professor Schoenung is a pioneer in the field of sustainable development of materials with many years of experience studying the materials-selection process in a variety of applications. She conducts research into the analysis of factors that guide the materials-selection decision-making process, such as economics, environmental impact and toxicity, cost-performance trade-offs, policy and sustainability standards. Her research activities are currently focused on electronics and energy systems including batteries and solar panels. Professor Schoenung also conducts research into structure-processing-property mechanistic relationships in a variety of materials systems. Her current research focus is on high entropy ceramics and additive manufacturing of ceramics, cermets, composites and metals, including the application of alternative feedstock materials generated from waste products.