Professional Profile
Dr. Laurie Haws is President and a cofounder of ToxStrategies as well as a Managing Principal Scientist. Based in Austin, Texas, she is a board-certified toxicologist and a Fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences (ATS), and she has more than 30 years of experience in the areas of toxicology, human health risk assessment, risk communication, and scientific and regulatory policy.
Dr. Haws has substantial experience evaluating potential human health risks associated with exposures to a wide variety of chemicals and metals present as additives, ingredients, or contaminants in foods, consumer products, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and environmental media (air, water, soil, and sediments). She also has extensive experience assessing potential human health risks associated with personal, occupational, and community-wide exposures to air contaminants, particularly related to chemical, petrochemical, and shale gas exploration and production activities. Dr. Haws is a recognized expert at evaluating data concerning modes and mechanisms of action and in using this type of data to assess the relevance of findings to humans. She routinely applies these skills in the development of state-of-the-science toxicity values via the application of both default and more rigorous approaches, such as benchmark dose modeling, application of weight-of-evidence techniques, and consideration of mode-of-action information. In addition, Dr. Haws also has experience designing, placing, and overseeing a broad range of toxicology laboratory studies, including ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion), developmental toxicity, and cross-fostering studies. She also has experience designing, conducting, and interpreting data from biomonitoring studies, and is adept at using such data to assess concerns regarding potential exposures.
While Dr. Haws is an internationally recognized authority on the toxicity of and exposures to dioxin-like compounds, she has conducted assessments involving many other toxicants throughout her career, including chlorinated hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, PFAS, pesticides, phthalates, glycol ethers, metals, persistent organic pollutants, and others. She is knowledgeable about numerous state and federal regulatory programs and has assisted in the preparation of reports for submission to regulatory agencies such as the FDA, EPA, and California’s Proposition 65 program. Dr. Haws also has substantial experience working with federal, state, and local government agencies, industry, trade associations, legislative representatives, the media, and members of the general public on matters related to the toxicity of chemicals encountered in our daily lives.
Dr. Haws has a diverse background, having worked as a researcher, a regulatory toxicologist with a government agency, and a scientific consultant. In fact, a substantial portion of her career has been spent in the government sector, both as a researcher and most recently as a manager in the Toxicology and Risk Assessment Section at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). In her position with the TCEQ, Dr. Haws was responsible for overseeing all human health risk assessment activities and was one of the primary authors of the agency’s comprehensive risk-based corrective action rule (the Texas Risk Reduction Program [TRRP] rule).
Dr. Haws is an author on 60 peer-reviewed publications and has presented at many scientific conferences throughout her career. She is an active member of numerous professional societies, including the Society of Toxicology, Society for Risk Analysis, Toxicology Forum, American College of Toxicology, and the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society. Dr. Haws has served on numerous elected and appointed committees within the Society of Toxicology, including serving on Council, as well as serving as president of the Risk Assessment Specialty Section and the Women in Toxicology Special Interest Group.
Dr. Haws has participated in a number of scientific panels, technical workgroups, and advisory committees, including the World Health Organization’s Toxic Equivalency Factor Review Panel. She was a panelist for a workshop convened in 2021 by the Alliance for Risk Assessment, discussing practical, problem-driven approaches to “fit-for-purpose” risk assessments. She also chaired the International Symposium on Halogenated and Persistent Organic Pollutants, held in San Antonio, Texas, in September 2010, and served on the Exposure and Human Health Committee of the USEPA’s Science Advisory Board.