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Gretchen Bruce Hoffer, B.S. |
Education
B.S., University of California at Davis, 1990, Environmental Toxicology.
Experience Highlights
15 years experience in human health risk assessments.
Fields of Expertise include: Human Health Risk Assessment; Toxicological Evaluations; Litigation Support; Dose Reconstruction; Environmental Science; Environmental/ Regulatory Compliance
Biographical Sketch
Gretchen Bruce Hoffer, B.S., is a senior scientist with 15 years of professional experience as a toxicologist and risk assessor. Ms. Bruce’s project and project management experience includes site characterization and regulatory based risk assessment, exposure assessment, litigation support services, public health evaluations, probabilistic exposure model development, and historical dose reconstruction.
Ms. Hoffer’s primary expertise is in the conduct of toxicological evaluations. On a wide-range of litigation and human health risk evaluation projects, Ms. Hoffer has conducted critiques of the toxicological data and literature and characterized likely effect levels and adverse health impacts. In addition, Ms. Hoffer has provided toxic tort litigation support in cases where materials were released from industrial facilities and present in workplace environments and consumer products. These projects included assisting in the evaluation of animal and human data for use in establishing a reference dose for perchlorate; characterizing the state of knowledge regarding the toxicity of numerous compounds including metals, solvents, and other organics; assessing probable adverse health effects and toxicity thresholds for organophosphate compounds leaked into airplane cabin air from engine oils and hydraulic fluids; conducting historical reviews of the development of toxicity testing protocols for consumer products and the development of knowledge of lead and arsenic toxicity; and assessing risks of metals and dioxins released from manufacturing facilities.
As a risk assessor, Ms. Hoffer has managed and conducted risk assessments for industrial and residential sites in accordance with federal CERCLA/RCRA, state, and local guidance for more than a dozen states. Project experience includes using mathematical models to assess fate and transport and establish site cleanup levels; negotiating with regulatory agencies; designing and conducting field sampling programs and laboratory QA/QC reviews; establishing safe worker-exposure levels to newly developed materials and chemical mixtures; completing a 40-year historical dose reconstruction of mercury released from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation; conducting detailed evaluations of the validity of default assumptions for site-specific assessments; and designing multipathway probabilistic exposure models to characterize the uncertainty and variability in estimated doses.
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Recent Publications
Chow JC, Watson JG, Savage N, Solomon CJ, Cheng Y, McMurry PH, Corey LM, Bruce GM, Pleus RC, Biswas P, Wu C. 2005. Critical Review: Nanoparticles and the Environment. Air & Waste Management Association. 55: 1411-1417
Book Chapters
Belzer R.B., Bruce G.M., Peterson M.K. and Pleus R.C. 2004. Using Comparative Exposure Analysis to Validate Low-Dose Human Health Risk Assessment: The Case of Perchlorate. In Linkov, I. and Ramadan, A., Eds. Comparative Risk Assessment and Environmental Decision Making. Kluwer. Pgs. 57-74.
Technical Papers
Bruce G.M., Peterson M.K., and Pleus R.C. 2004. Comparative Contribution of Perchlorate and Anti-Thyroid Agents in American Diets to Iodide Uptake Inhibition. Paper presented at the 32nd JANNAF Propellant Development & Characterization and 21st Safety & Environmental Protection Joint Meeting. Seattle, WA. July 29.
Bruce G.M. and Pleus R.C. 2004. Neurobehavioral Effects of Anti-Thyroid Agents in Rats: A Review of the Historical Literature and Comparison to the Results of the Perchlorate Studies. A report prepared for the Perchlorate Study Group. Submitted to the National Academy of Sciences Committee to Assess the Health Implications of Perchlorate Ingestion. July 27.
Bruce G.M. and Pleus R.C. 2004. Concerns Regarding U.S. EPA's Assessment of Thyroid Follicular Cell Adenomas Identified in the Rat 2-Generation Reproduction Study of Perchlorate. A report prepared for the Perchlorate Study Group. Submitted to the National Academy of Sciences Committee to Assess the Health Implications of Perchlorate Ingestion. July 23.
Recent Presentations
2007. Snyder, E.M., Br uce, G.M., Pleus, R.C., Snyder, S.A. Incidence and Toxicological Significance of Selected Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) in Drinking Water. To be presented at the World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2007, Tampa, FL. May 15-19.
2006. Pleus, R.C., Bruce, G.M., Snyder, E.M., Snyder, S.A., Corey, L.M. Toxicological Relevance of EDCs and Pharmaceuticals. Invited speaker. To be presented at the 2006 AWWA Annual Conference in San Antonio, TX. June 11-15.
2006. Pleus, R.C., Bruce, G.M., Snyder, E.M., Snyder, S.A., Corey, L.M. Incidence and Toxicological Significance of Selected Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water. Presented at the Groundwater Resources Association’s Emerging Contaminants in Groundwater Symposium, Concord, CA. June 7-8.
2006. Pleus, R.C., Bruce, G.M., Snyder, E.M. Addressing the Significance of Trace Level Findings. To be presented at the Association of California Water Agencies Groundwater/ Water Quality Track: Pharmaceuticals in Groundwater: Public Health Issue or Public Relations Nightmare? Monterey, CA. May 10.
2006. Bruce, G.M., Pleus, R.C., Snyder, S.A., Snyder, E.M. Toxicological Relevance of Pharmaceuticals and Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in Water. Presented at the National Ground Water Association’s 5th International Conference on Pharmaceuticals and Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in Water, Costa Mesa, CA. March 14, 2006.
2005. Snyder S.A., Pleus R.C., Bruce G.M., Hemming J.D.C., Hulsey R.A. and Snyder E.M. Approach for Assessing the Toxicological Relevance of Endocrine Disruptors and Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water. Submitted to Water Quality Technology Conference and Exhibition, Quebec, Canada. November 6-10.
2005. Bruce G.M., Peterson M.K. and Pleus R.C. Comparative Risk Assessment Of Multimedia Environmental Exposure To Perchlorate and Other Agents That Inhibit Iodide Uptake Into The Thyroid. Poster presented at the Society of Toxicology 44th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA. March 10.
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