Meet Our Investigators

Site Location: Fountain, CO

John Adgate, PhD

John is a Co-Principal Investigator for Colorado SCOPE. He is a Professor in the Colorado School of Public Health and Chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. His expertise is in exposure and risk assessment. His research interests include: health impacts and sustainability of energy development, PFAS exposure and health effects, children’s environmental health, and the impacts of air pollution and climate change on human health.

Dr. Adgate's research profile.

Anne Starling, PhD

Anne is a Co-Principal Investigator for Colorado SCOPE. She is an assistant professor in the Epidemiology Department in the Colorado School of Public Health as well as the Assistant Director for Environmental Health at the Lifecourse Epidemiology of Adiposity and Diabetes Center. Anne's research has focused on how environmental exposures can impact risk of chronic disease. She has previously looked at how exposure to PFAS during pregnancy may impact risk of preeclampsia.

Dr. Starling's research profile.

Amber Vaughn, DrPH, MPH

Amber is the Project and Data Manager for Colorado SCOPE. She has worked several years with John Adgate in the Environmental and Occupational Health Department at the Colorado School of Public Health. She has experience researching radon behaviors and policy and participated as a research assistant in the previous local study, PFAS-AWARE (2018-9)

Dr. Vaughn's research profile.

Study Team

Deanna Kulbeth, BS, MA

Sr. Professional Research Assistant

Deanna is the Outreach and Recruiting Manager for Colorado SCOPE. She is not native to
Colorado, but arrived in Fountain as fast as she could. Deanna was the Fountain-Fort Carson’s
high school valedictorian in 2004, and she has a Master’s in Environmental Learning and a
certificate in Water Policy from the University of Arizona. During that time she also worked in
public engagement for the University. Deanna also served as a Research Assistant on the pilot
study (PFAS-AWARE) conducted in the Fountain Valley in
2018-9.

Michaela Gale, BS

Sr. Professional Research Assistant

Micaela is the Protocol Compliance and Data Manager SCOPE. She earned her bachelor
degree in Exercise Science and Health at the University of Idaho and moved to Colorado to join
the Colorado SCOPE team. Micaela has a keen interest in public health research and has
previously worked as a Research Assistant for studies involving children’s health and safety,
Native American health, and Washington State Agricultural studies.

Brent Windebank, BS

Sr. Professional Research Assistant

Brent is a Senior Professional Research Assistant for Colorado SCOPE. He is a native Colorado resident and obtained his Bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Brent previously studied the impacts of PFAS on microbial communities in Colorado soils as an undergraduate researcher. He has an interest in public health research that allows him to engage a community's issues through the lens of innovative research.

Hannah Craig, MPH

Sr. Professional Research Assistant

Hannah is a Professional Research Assistant for Colorado SCOPE. She is a graduate student in the Environmental and Occupational Health Department at the Colorado School of Public Health. She received her bachelor’s degree in public health and environmental studies from Tulane University in 2018. Her early career experiences have been in international food systems, migration, and gender research.

Chandler Webb, BS

Professional Research Assistant

Chandler is a Professional Research Assistant for Colorado SCOPE. Born and raised in Colorado, he earned his Bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs in Biochemistry. Chandler has an extensive background in bioanalytical and genomics related research. He enjoys working with the community and learning the stories of those he interacts with. His interest in healthcare and working with the community led him to pivot from his career in the bioanalytical industry to one centered in public health.

Shelby Kardel, MPH

Sr. Professional Research Assistant

Shelby is a graduate of the Colorado School of Public Health in Environmental and Occupational Health. She is passionate about climate change, environmental toxicology and other exposures affecting public health. She previously worked as a Research Biologist for a biopharmaceutical company working to provide clean blood products in effective and novel ways.

CU Denver: Anschutz Campus

Greta Wilkening, PSYD, PHD

Co-Investigator

Greta is a Co-Investigator for Colorado SCOPE. Greta is the Director of Pediatric Neuropsychology and a Professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She is a neuropsychologist with deep experience in the clinical assessment of children. She has had broad involvement in studies addressing the impact of diseases/disorders on development. Greta has been especially engaged by large, multi-center studies that include neurocognitive assessment, and has endeavored to make it possible to complete these assessments in a reliable, consistent, effective, and accurate manner.

Stephen Brindley, MS

Laboratory Analyst

Stephen will conduct some of the laboratory analyses for the investigator-initiated portion of Colorado SCOPE. He is the lab manager of John Adgate's lab in the Environmental and Occupational Health Department at the Colorado School of Public Health. Stephen is skilled in Flow, ELISA, Western Blotting, Size Fractionation, CHIP assays, cell culture, processing human samples, and various other laboratory techniques.

Ben Allshouse, PHD, MR

Instructor for the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health

Ben is an Instructor for the Department of Environmental & Occupational Health. He is an environmental scientist with expertise in the spatiotemporal modeling of pollutants and diseases. His current research focuses on pollutants produced across the good life cycle during oil and gas development and the effect on surrounding communities, the impact of indoor and outdoor air pollution on children's health, and environmental justice.

Colorado School of Mines

Chris Higgins, PHD

Co-investigator

Chris is a co-investigator for Colorado SCOPE. He is an associate professor at the Colorado School of Mines in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Chris's research focuses on the fate, transport, and bioaccumulation of emerging contaminants in the environment. In particular, he has been exploring the fate and biopersistance of PFAS in groundwater systems as well as working to develop analytical techniques to identify and quantify new PFAS compounds.

Kamini Singha, PHD

Co-investigator

Kamini is a co-investigator for Colorado SCOPE she is a professor at the Colorado School of Mines. Over the last 15 years, her research has focused on a variety of hydrogeologic processes, including fluid flow and contaminant transport in porous media and fractured rock, groundwater-surface water exchange, the connections between groundwater fluxes, and evapotranspiration, and the application of geophysics to hydrologic problems.

Conrad Pritchard

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

Kristy Richardson, PHD

Co-Investigator, State Toxicologist

Kristy is a co-investigator for Colorado SCOPE. She is an environmental toxicologist working at the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment to protect public health and the environment from hazardous substances. Her goal is to identify exposure pathways, educate community members and local agencies about potential hazards, and evaluate potential health risks to the community and the environment.

Kelsey Barton, PHD

State Toxicologist

Mallory O'Brien

Environmental Health Educator

Mallory provides support in education, outreach, and communication for CO SCOPE. She works as an Environmental Health Educator at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Mallory has over four years of experience in educating and protecting communities through various environmental health interventions. Mallory previously worked at the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment to prevent lead and arsenic exposures to an at-risk residential area. She is passionate about fostering healthy and safe communities across Colorado.

CO SCOPE Consultants

Myles Cockburn, PHD

Co-investigator

Myles is a co-investigator for Colorado SCOPE. He is a Professor in Preventive Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. As a cancer epidemiologist with more than 20 years of experience in assessing cancer etiology, and in particular, the etiology and control of cancers, Myles is uniquely qualified to participate in activities related to determining the role of environmental exposures in cancer etiology.

Kristi Celico, MPP

Consultant

Kristi is a consultant for Colorado SCOPE where she facilitates the study's community advisory panel. Kristi is a mediator and facilitator with twenty-five years of experience resolving highly political and controversial environmental and human health challenges.