Faculty Profile

J. Tim Dvonch

J. Tim Dvonch, PhD

  • Associate Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
  • Associate Chair, Environmental Health Sciences

Dr. Dvonch's research interests and experience broadly reside in the assessment, characterization, source identification, and risk communication of human exposures and inhalation health effects of air pollutants. For exposure assessment, his specific interests are in the laboratory development and 'real-world' field-evaluation and application of methodologies and techniques for improved exposure assessment to air pollutants. These primarily include the mass, number, as well as biological and chemical composition of ambient particles for exposure assessment at the community, micro-environmental, and personal level. His interests in the application of these methods include source identification and apportionment of the pollutants through the use of receptor models, with the ultimate goal of informing policy and decision-marking processes to improve human health through the reduction of these exposures. Dr. Dvonch has contributed to numerous community-based human population studies and animal model studies of exposure addressing synergies between quantitatively defined air pollution exposures and other variables in the causation of adverse health effects. His research has addressed differing risks of air pollution exposure and health impacts related to disparities in socio-economic status, disease (or pre- disease)-status, geographic location of residence, chemical and biological composition, and specific emission sources of pollutants. Several of these studies have identified adverse health outcomes in both vulnerable sub-populations as well as healthy people due to exposure to specific chemical components of air pollution, as well as specific emission sources of pollution.

  • PhD, Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan, 1998
  • MS, Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan, 1994
  • BS, Chemistry, University of Michigan, 1992

Research Interests:
Exposure assessment and health effects of air pollution, with a focus on chemical composition of particulates and source identification. Atmospheric transport and fate of toxicants including mercury and other metals across a wide array of environmental systems.

Projects:
Dvonch's project on 'Wearable Microsystem for Continuous Personalized Aerosol Exposure Assessment', with collaborators at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Oakland University, aims to develop, evaluate, and apply cost-effective and wearable sensors for the detection and quantification of size-fractionated airborne particulate matter and it's toxic components for both ambient and personal exposure assessment.

Dvonch also collaborates on another current project with several of his colleagues within the School of Public Health, 'SARS-CoV-2 Epidemiology - Wastewater Evaluation and Reporting (SEWER) Network', to use localized wastewater based epidemiology (WBE) for the early detection and early intervention of COVID-19 and other pathogens in on- and off campus University of Michigan student housing buildings.

Dvonch is also a member of the 'Michigan Center for Lifestage Environmental Exposures and Disease', whose mission is to accelerate research that defines impacts of environmental exposures during vulnerable stages of life, and to promote translation of these findings to improve medical and public health interventions for the mitigation of chronic disease. As an center member, Dvonch actively contributes to the center's 'Community Engagement Core' to increase awareness and understanding of environmental health research, and to further scientific collaboration among University of Michigan environmental health researchers and the communities involved.

Zhang X, Wu J, Smith LM, Li X, Yancey O, Franzblau A, Dvonch JT, Xi C, Neitzel RL. Monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in air and on surfaces and estimating infection risk in buildings and buses on a university campus. J. Expo. Sci. Environ. Epidemiol. 32:751-758 (2022).

Schulz AJ, Mentz GB, Sampson N, Ward M, Dvonch JT, de Majo R, Israel BA, Reyes AG, Wilkins D. Independent and joint contributions of fine particulate matter exposure and population vulnerability to mortality in the Detroit Metropolitan Area. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 15:1209-1223 (2018).

Lynam MM, Dvonch JT, Barres JA, Percy K. Atmospheric wet deposition of mercury to the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, Alberta, Canada. Air Qual. Atmos. Health, 11:83-93 (2018).

Nkhama E, Ndhlovu M, Dvonch JT, Lynam M, Mentz G, Siziya S, Voyi K. Effects of airborne particulate matter on respiratory health in a community near a cement factory in Chilanga, Zambia: Results from a panel study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 14:1351-66 (2017).

Zhou H, Zhou C, Lynam MM, Dvonch JT, Barres J, Hopke PK, Cohen M, Holsen TM. Atmospheric Mercury Temporal Trends in the Northeastern United States from 1992 to 2014: Are Measured Concentrations Responding to Decreasing Regional Emissions? Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett., 4:91-97 (2017).

Sherman LS, Blum JD, Dvonch JT, Gratz LE, Landis MS. The use of Pb, Sr, and Hg isotopes in Great Lakes precipitation as a tool for pollution source attribution. Sci. Total Environ., 502:362-74 (2015).

View full list of publications at: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FLPrsK4AAAAJandhl=en 

Email: dvonch@umich.edu
Office: 734-615-3484
Fax: 734-936-7283
Address: M6017 SPH II
1415 Washington Heights
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

For media inquiries: sph.media@umich.edu 

Areas of Expertise: COVID-19,  Environmental Health,  Global Public Health