Susan Shaw (conservationist)
Susan D. Shaw (October 24, 1943 – January 27, 2022) was an American
environmental health scientist,
marine toxicologist, explorer,
ocean conservationist, and author. A
Doctor of Public Health, she was a professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the School of Public Health at the
State University of New York at Albany, and Founder/President of the
Shaw Institute, a nonprofit scientific institution with a mission to improve human and ecological health through innovative science and strategic partnerships. Shaw is globally recognized for pioneering high-impact environmental research on
ocean pollution,
climate change,
oil spills, and
plastics that has fueled public policy over three decades. In 1983, with landscape photographer
Ansel Adams, she published ''Overexposure'', the first book to document the health hazards of photographic chemicals. Shaw is credited as the first scientist to show that
brominated flame retardant chemicals used in consumer products have contaminated
marine mammals and commercially important fish stocks in the northwest Atlantic Ocean. She became the first scientist to dive into the
Gulf of Mexico oil slick following the
2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion to investigate the impacts of chemical
dispersants used in response to the spill.
Recognized as an outspoken voice on emerging contaminants like plastic, Shaw traveled globally to raise awareness on toxic legacy of man-made chemicals and its impact on public health and the environment.
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