Chensheng (Alex) Lu, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Environmental Exposure Biology, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Dr. Lu appeared on SftPublic's program Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations January 20, 2015 to discuss the alarming decline of the honeybee population: What Happened to the Honeybees?. Farmers depend on the honeybees for pollination, and the loss of these insects has economic as well as ecological consequences.

Dr. Lu has conducted some of the major investigations of the relationship between the honeybee die-off, known as colony collapse disorder (CCD), and neonicotinoid insecticides.

Dr. Lu has led important research on these pesticides. He also works with the Boston Housing Authority, Committee for Boston Public Housing, and residents living in urban low-income public housing public health service to reduce human exposure to widely used pesticides. He is very committed to improving public awareness of these toxins and their effects on honeybees as well as humans.

Dr. Lu is an Associate Editor for Environmental Health Perspectives, one of the leading peer-review journals of environmental health, and also serves as an ad hoc reviewer for more than 30 scientific journals. Additionally, since 2004 he has served as an ad hoc member on the scientific advisory panel to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under the authority of the Federal Insecticides, Fungicides, and Rodenticides Act (FIFRA).

Important article by Dr. Lu and colleagues: In Situ Replication of Honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder See more publications on the January 20 2015 event page above.