Human Health Risk Assessment is a Team Sport.
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Even in relatively simple situations, no one person can possess all the skills and knowledge to conduct a human health risk assessment, evaluate potential exposure potential, determine the best course of action to avoid unreasonable hazards, and effectively communicate risk mitigation strategies. Decisions on managing risk are often needed soon after (or even before) a potential risk is identified. In this presentation, a survey of modern risk assessment to protect human health will span several types of situations: where information is plentiful vs. sparse; where decisions are needed immediately compared to when more time can be taken to weigh all available evidence; where near-term vs. lifetime exposures are more critical; and many combinations of these and other factors. Many of the tools that have been developed in the pursuit of human health risk assessment will be presented for application in these situational scenarios. Discussion will touch upon the proper identification and application of toxicity values for time-critical decision-making in a resource-limited environment. Looking to the future, we will discuss how organizations may work more collaboratively to efficiently share resources when developing human health risk assessments.