Core A: Administration

Summary

The goal of the Administration Core is to provide a centralized staff to unify the research program under the Program Director and Deputy Director’s guidance and facilitate the coordination of the research projects to fulfill the research goals of the grant. Specifically, this core will do the following:

  • Assist the Program Director in planning and coordinating research activities;
  • Integrate cross-disciplinary research;
  • Oversee fiscal and resources management and ensuring that all agency and university guidelines are met;
  • Maintain ongoing communication with NIEHS, EPA and other Superfund Research Programs;
  • Organize an Annual Meeting of all investigators, guest scientists and the advisory boards;
  • Coordinate reviews by the internal and external advisory boards;
  • Assist in the organization of national and international meetings related to the Superfund research Program;
  • Produce all progress reports, manuscripts and other written documents related to the program in a timely manner;
  • Set up and maintain databases of publications, trainees, personnel, investigator addresses, and equipment inventory;
  • Provide day-to-day administrative assistance to the Director, Deputy Director and Business Manager.

Core Update

Overall goal
To provide a centralized staff to unify the research program under the Program Director’s guidance and facilitate the coordination of the research projects to fulfill the research, translation, and training goals of the grant.

What we have done
Minerva Reyes, Program Manager, provides oversight on all financial and compliance issues and prepares specialized financial budgets, activity reports, and projections for the Project and Core Leaders, counseling them as needed to ensure that they have sufficient resources to meet their specific aims.  William Brockett, Business Manager, manages administrative support functions for the program and each project and core.  He acts as liaison with Agency and University administrative personnel; assists the Program Director in coordinating the activities of the Projects and Cores; coordinates travel and arrangements for necessary Superfund staff and collaborator meetings; provides other logistical and support functions not covered by basic administrative support, and drafts, edits, and submits correspondence, reports, and responses to information requests.  The Core provides day-to-day administrative assistance to the Director and Deputy Director, ensuring leadership continuity.  The Core maintains an informational web site, aggregating recent information and publications from the research projects and cores and archiving historical records.

Core A assisted in the planning and coordination of a presentation and discussion by Dr. Roel Vermeulen, a professor in molecular epidemiology at the University Medical Centre of Utrecht University in the Netherlands, entitled “How informative are human observational studies on the possible association between benzene and hematopoietic cancers?”  The event on September 16, 2010 was attended by UCB SRP investigators and other University researchers.  The Core also coordinated research review and strategic planning meetings for Program Investigators.

Core A coordinated travel arrangements for researchers, students, and trainees to attend scientific meetings and seminars related to SRP research.  The core provided planning and logistical support for UC Berkeley’s participation in the 2010 Superfund Annual Meeting, held November 10th – 12th, organizing the participation UC Berkeley’s investigators, students, and personnel.  Core A also represented the program at Project Management sessions.

Core A provided budgetary coordination and implementation support to Project and Core Leaders, including expenditure and compliance issues for current year funding and for budget development for the upcoming year. The core has also fulfilled its direct ongoing business administration duties for the program that are not included in basic administrative support such as: a) advising investigators on NIH and university-wide policies and ensuring compliance; b) expediting personnel appointments and visa applications; c) managing all SRP financial transactions from purchasing to contracts; d) tracking expenditures and preparing bimonthly financial reports for the principal investigator and project leaders; and e) managing development and submission of the annual update and progress reports for all six projects and five cores of the UC Berkeley SRP.

» Core Update Archive

Selected Publications

2010

  • Smith MT (2010) Advances in understanding benzene health effects and susceptibility. Annu Rev Public Health. Apr 21; 31(133-48. PMID: 20070208. [PDF]
  • Zhang L, Freeman LE, Nakamura J, Hecht SS, Vandenberg JJ, Smith MT, Sonawane BR (2010b) Formaldehyde and leukemia: Epidemiology, potential mechanisms, and implications for risk assessment. Environ Mol Mutagen. Apr; 51(3):181-91. PMID: 19790261. PMCID: PMC2839060. [PDF]
  • Vlaanderen J, Moore LE, Smith MT, Lan Q, Zhang L, Skibola CF, Rothman N, Vermeulen R (2010) Application of OMICS technologies in occupational and environmental health research; current status and projections. Occup Environ Med. Feb; 67(2):136-43. PMID: 19933307. [PDF]
  • Zhang L, Tang X, Rothman N, Vermeulen R, Ji Z, Shen M, Qiu C, Guo W, Liu S, Reiss B, Freeman LB, Ge Y, Hubbard AE, Hua M, Blair A, Galvan N, Ruan X, Alter BP, Xin KX, Li S, Moore LE, Kim S, Xie Y, Hayes RB, Azuma M, Hauptmann M, Xiong J, Stewart P, Li L, Rappaport SM, Huang H, Fraumeni JF Jr, Smith MT, Lan Q (2010a) Occupational exposure to formaldehyde, hematotoxicity, and leukemia-specific chromosome changes in cultured myeloid progenitor cells. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. Jan;20(1):80-88. PMID: 20056626. PMC Journal – In Process. [PDF]

2009

  • Tang X, Bai Y, Duong A, Smith MT, Li L, Zhang L (2009) Formaldehyde in China: production, consumption, exposure levels, and health effects. Environ Int. Nov; 35(8):1210-24. PMID: 19589601. [PDF]
  • Smith MT, Rappaport SM (2009) Building exposure biology centers to put the E into “G x E” interaction studies. Environ Health Perspect. Aug; 117(8):A334-5. PMID: 19672377. PMCID: PMC2721881. [PDF]
  • Guyton KZ, Kyle AD, Aubrecht J, Cogliano VJ, Eastmond DA, Jackson M, Keshava N, Sandy MS, Sonawane B, Zhang L, Waters MD, Smith MT (2009) Improving prediction of chemical carcinogenicity by considering multiple mechanisms and applying toxicogenomic approaches. Mutat Res. Mar-Jun; 681(2-3):230-40. PMID: 19010444. [PDF]
  • Zhang L, Steinmaus C, Eastmond DA, Xin XK, Smith MT (2009) Formaldehyde exposure and leukemia: a new meta-analysis and potential mechanisms. Mutat Res. Mar-Jun; 681(2-3):150-68. PMID: 18674636. [PDF]

2008

  • Steinmaus C, Smith AH, Jones RM, Smith MT (2008) Meta-analysis of benzene exposure and non-Hodgkin lymphoma: biases could mask an important association. Occup Environ Med. Jun; 65(6):371-8. PMID: 18417556. [PDF]
  • Smith MT (2008) Misuse of genomics in assigning causation in relation to benzene exposure. Int J Occup Environ Health. Apr-Jun; 14(2):144-6. PMID: 18507292. [PDF]

2007

  • Hartge P, Smith MT (2007) Environmental and behavioral factors and the risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. Mar; 16(3):367-8. PMID: 17344463. [PDF]
  • Smith MT, Jones RM, Smith AH (2007) Benzene exposure and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. Mar; 16(3):385-91. PMID: 17337645. [PDF]

2005

  • Weis BK, Balshaw D, Barr JR, Brown D, Ellisman M, Lioy P, Omenn G, Potter JD, Smith MT, Sohn L, Suk WA, Sumner S, Swenberg J, Walt DR, Watkins S, Thompson C, Wilson SH (2005) Personalized exposure assessment: promising approaches for human environmental health research. Environ Health Perspect. Jul; 113(7):840-8. PMID: 16002370. PMCID: PMC1257643. [PDF]
  • Forrest MS, Lan Q, Hubbard AE, Zhang L, Vermeulen R, Zhao X, Li G, Wu YY, Shen M, Yin S, Chanock SJ, Rothman N, Smith MT (2005) Discovery of novel biomarkers by microarray analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cell gene expression in benzene-exposed workers. Environ Health Perspect. Jun; 113(6):801-7. PMID: 15929907. PMCID: PMC1257610. [PDF]

» Publications Archive