Devon Payne-Sturges
COMMITMENT TO SERVICE
Throughout my career, I have been deeply committed to service at the university and professional levels. My roles have ranged from serving on key academic committees to contributing to national and international scientific advisory boards.
Service in Academia
Within the Maryland Institute of Applied Environmental Health (MIAEH), I served on the Executive Committee (2015-2018), the MPH Health Equity Concentration Committee (2014-2015), the Public Health Science (PHS) Program Steering Committee (2014-2017), and the Undergraduate Career Development Task Force (2016-2017). I have also contributed to the MIAEH Director and Graduate Program Director search committees and organized a Grand Rounds Lecture with Pulitzer Prize winner Dan Fagin, sharing my passion for environmental health with colleagues and students.
​At the university level, I served on the review committee for a Gemstone Honors research proposal (2018) and the Banneker/Key Scholarship Selection Committee (2017). I also volunteered on the University of Maryland's Campus Pantry advisory committee (2014-2017).
I have made significant contributions to my field through national and international professional service. As a recognized expert, I have been appointed to the National Academy of Sciences’ Environmental Health Matters Initiative Steering Committee (since 2019) and the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Toxicology Program (since 2021). Previously, I served on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (2016-2019) and on the External Scientific Advisory Board for the NIH-EPA Center for Research on Environmental and Social Stressors in Housing at Harvard and Boston Universities (2016-2019).
​Organizations and federal agencies often seek my expertise. I have served on EPA’s Review Panel for the draft Planning and Scoping Guidelines for Cumulative Risk Assessment (2021) and as an Ad Hoc Reviewer for EPA’s Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) (2023). I also co-chaired the Anti-Racism Task Force for the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology, where I led efforts to integrate scholarship from the humanities into environmental health research.
Professional Service and Leadership
Editorial and Peer Review Contributions
I am an Associate Editor for Environmental Health Perspectives and have served as a guest editor for special issues of the American Journal of Public Health (2011) and the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2016). Additionally, I frequently provide peer reviews for leading scientific journals, including Environmental Health Perspectives.
Beyond academia, I am committed to translating research into actionable insights for policymakers and the public. I have provided expert testimony to the Maryland General Assembly on regulating chlorpyrifos, a pesticide harmful to children’s brain development. My expertise has been featured in local and national media, where I discuss topics such as pesticide health effects, air pollution, cumulative impacts, and children's environmental health inequities.
From 2016 to 2022, I led the air pollution and health disparities working groups of Project TENDR: Targeting Environmental Neuro-Developmental Risks, a national consortium that aims to translate scientific research into policy to protect children’s health.