Associate Director for Health

R. Julian Preston, Ph.D.
Acting Associate Director for Health

Dr. Julian Preston is the Acting Associate Director for Health, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL) in the Office of Research and Development in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Dr. Preston earned his Ph.D. in Radiation Genetics from Reading University, England. He was a Research Scientist with the Medial Research Council (UK) from 1963-1970. He spent 21 years (1970-1991) in the Biology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He held several different positions in the organization, ending with Section Head, Human Genetics. He also served as Associate Director of the Oak Ridge - University of Tennessee Graduate School for Biomedical Sciences from 1980-1991. In 1991, Dr. Preston joined the CIIT Centers for Health Sciences, in Research Triangle Park where he served as Senior Science Advisor until 1999. In 1999, Dr. Preston joined NHEERL as Director of the Environmental Carcinogenesis Division, a position he has held until August 2005 when he started his detail as Acting Associate Director for Health. He currently also holds Adjunct Professor appointments at Duke University (Integrated Toxicology Program) and North Carolina State University (Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology).

In addition to his employment, Dr. Preston is Chair of Committee 1 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection, a member of the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation and a member of several ILSI and IPCS committees. Dr. Preston is also an Editorial Board Member of Mutation Research, Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis and Health Physics. Dr. Preston has received a number of awards including The Lauriston Taylor Lecture Award from the National Council on Radiation Protection; the Alexander Hollaender Award from the Environmental Mutagen Society and two Technical Achievement Awards from Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin). Dr. Preston served as President of the Environmental Mutagen Society (1999). Dr. Preston has over 180 publications covering a broad range of topic areas. Dr. Preston's research and current activities have focused on the mechanisms of radiation and chemical carcinogenesis and the approaches for incorporating these types of data into cancer risk assessments.