Gregory Ulirsch

1982: BS, Biology, Georgia State University
1989: MS, Environmental Science, Georgia Tech University
2005: PhD, Environmental Science and Engineering, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Environmental health and risk assessment
Environmental epidemiology
Environmental health toxicology

Before my retirement in 2023, I worked in the field of environmental health for about 35 years with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) which is a sister agency to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). I started my academic career so many years ago at Georgia State University where I received a BS in Biology. I followed that up with an MS in Environmental Science from Georgia Tech where I studied how ozonation can treat drinking water. I completed my academic work at the School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel, with a PhD from the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering. My dissertation topic related to studying the health effects of particulate matter air exposures in two communities in Idaho. At ATSDR, I worked on a wide variety of projects evaluating the health effects of exposures to chemicals at hazardous waste sites. At the end of my career at ATSDR, I worked with others to evaluate the health effects of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance or PFAS in drinking water and other media. PFAS is an emerging class of chemicals of concern with rapidly changing science. I worked for over 12 years at the Western Carolina University as an adjunct professor where I taught a graduate level epidemiology class and undergraduate classes in occupational health, global health, and hazardous waste management. I teach Environmental Health Toxicology, Introduction to Risk Assessment, and the Foundations of Public Health classes at Georgia State University. With my part-time teaching appointment at Georgia State University, I have come full circle from my days when I was an undergraduate at GSU.