Now a member of the scientific staff of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), Dr. Lester Smith received his formal training (Ph.D.) in Biochemistry at the University of California Medical School in San Francisco. He has served as a Health Scientist for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and as Chief of Biological Aging for the National Institute on Aging. His career includes a tenured Professorship on the faculty of the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNYAB). He served as SUNYAB faculty liaison to the New York Governor's Task Force on the Environment. At ATSDR, he has served as the ATSDR Petition Health Officer and as a Health Educator in the Division of Health Education. He is the current Chief of the Toxicology Information Branch in the Division of Toxicology. Dr. Smith is interested in molecular aspects of environmental toxicology and the influence of aging on toxicologic outcomes.