HESI Mission

It is our mission to collaboratively identify and help to resolve global health and environmental challenges through the engagement of scientists from academia, government, industry, NGOs, and other strategic partners. We achieve our mission in a variety of ways:

Collaborative Environment

By creating a collaborative environment where scientists from academia, government, industry, and NGOs can come together, HESI finds solutions that improve health and environmental safety.

Meaningful Studies

Our programs encourage the development of meaningful studies that ask the right questions, structure the right framework, and develop solutions that inform decision-making.

Implementation

The outputs of HESI programs can be easily transferred from the laboratory or journal page to real life and are utilized to enhance human and environmental health at local, national, and international levels.

Core values

HESI’s core values are the foundation of our organization. They are the principles that guide the decisions and actions of our staff to support our overall vision and mission.

  • We create opportunities to collaborate.
  • We are driven by solutions.
  • We are transparent.
  • We are independent.
  • We are committed to excellence.

Quick history

HESI was established in 1989 under the scientific leadership of our inaugural Chair, Dr. Louis Lasagna, as a first-in-class forum for international, cross-sector collaboration. HESI’s first workshop on rodent liver tumors engaged 14 participants and was supported by a single staffer. As the organization grew in participation and scope, we opted to establish our own governance and programming. In 2002, HESI was recognized as an independently chartered and publicly supported 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization and has continued to flourish in scientific scope and rigor.

Today, our team of 13 staff provide leadership to over fifty scientific projects and programs that benefit human and environmental health. In our more than 30 years, HESI has produced scientific research that informs applied health protection decision-making around the globe.

HESI Timeline

Who we are

HESI Staff

A skilled and motivated scientific staff, led by HESI’s Executive Director, supports our scientific programs.

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Board of Trustees

HESI is governed by a Board of Trustees comprised of 14 public sector representatives and 13 private sector representatives.

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Partners

Scientists from more than 250 public and private organizations around the world provide intellectual contributions to our scientific programs.

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Collaborations

In addition to our scientific committees, HESI has developed partnerships with key organizations in pursuit of quality safety science.

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What we do

HESI helps solve the most pressing risk and safety challenges today by creating a knowledge base through a variety of mechanisms, including the following:

Decision Frameworks

HESI’s multi-stakeholder model creates teams of experts to structure decision frameworks that inform principles, processes, and practices to find answers to human and environmental health questions.

Data Sharing & Collective Analysis

By combining data from multiple sources across the public and private sectors, HESI supports the comparison of outcomes and analytical methods, generates insights into reproducibility and sensitivity across sites, validates models across settings, and identifies and addresses critical data gaps and methodological challenges.

Novel Experimental Studies

Through efficient, collaborative design and shared execution of experimental research, HESI helps to make high-quality data available to fill existing knowledge gaps and build weight-of-evidence.

Manuscripts

HESI is committed to making our scientific research publicly accessible via open access, peer-reviewed publications that enhance the global knowledge base.

Tool / Assay Development

The right tools/assays are a critical component of accurate and translational safety testing and for building an understanding of cellular, molecular, or biochemical processes. HESI’s experimental and data analysis programs provide critical multi-stakeholder and multi-site evaluations and insights.

Scientific Meetings & Trainings

Science doesn’t stop with publication. We support the implementation of our research around the world by participating in international scientific meetings, leading technical workshops, and convening training sessions.

Facilitating New Science

The adoption of new programs and projects allows HESI to address the most relevant emerging science and serve as a contemporary resource for our stakeholders. The figure to the right illustrates our role in moving science from the idea stage to the implementation stage.

HESI Fact Sheet

Governance, Stewardship & Peer-Review Process

Governance

Stewardship

The Board of Trustees Program Strategy and Stewardship Committee administers regular reviews of HESI programs to ensure balance and scientific rigor.

Peer-Review Process

HESI upholds a long-standing practice of conducting an internal peer-review before the submission of manuscripts and reports to support the credibility, transparency, and accuracy of our scientific work product.

Propose a project

HESI adopts new science in many ways and is committed to addressing emerging public health and science trends on a global scale. Submit a project to HESI today.

Contact Us

Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI)

hesi@hesiglobal.org
Phone: +1-202-659-8404
Fax: +1-202-659-8403

740 15th Street NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20005

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