Jennifer Freeman takes on Role of Interim Director for Purdue’s Center for the Environment

Jennifer L. Freeman, Professor of Toxicology in the School of Health Sciences, assumed the role of Interim Director of Purdue’s Center for the Environment on August 1, 2021.

Prior to this role, Freeman served on the Center’s leadership team in her capacity as an inaugural member and convener of the Chemical Exposures signature research area. She is also a member of the PFAS research group that is developing programs and connections on state and national levels.

Freeman’s other leadership roles at Purdue include directing the School of Health Sciences Undergraduate Curriculum Committee from 2013-2019 as well as developing and directing the School of Health Sciences Undergraduate Honors Research Program from 2011-2021.

Her research interests include working to define the underlying genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of toxicity of environmental stressors with current focus on pesticides, metals, PFAS, radiation, and emerging contaminants.  Freeman has served as a standing member of the NIH/NIEHS Environmental Health Sciences Review Committee and participated on the NASEM committee to develop a scoping plan to assess the hazards of organohalogen flame retardants. She has also held numerous leadership roles within the Society of Toxicology.

At Purdue, she was the recipient of the Early Career Research Achievement Award from the College of Health and Human Sciences and the Exceptional Early Career Teaching Award from Purdue.  She received the Charles B. Murphy Teaching Award in 2019, is listed in Purdue’s Book of Great Teachers, and is a member of Purdue’s Teaching Academy.

Freeman joined Purdue in 2007 following post-doctoral work at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston.  She is a faculty affiliate of the Environmental and Ecological Engineering program and has a courtesy appointment in the Department of Public Health.

Please join us in welcoming Jennifer to this new position and thanking her for her leadership.