IAPMO R&T, North America’s leading provider of third-party certification for plumbing, mechanical, and solar energy products, is pleased to announce it has added Shannon Ethridge, diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology, as in-house toxicologist.

A senior-level toxicologist with a wide array of experience in both the laboratory and regulatory environments, Ethridge brings expertise specific to public health, drinking water quality (including U.S. EPA public drinking water standards), surface water quality, groundwater contamination, human health risk assessment, environmental policy and regulations, and air quality among many others.

“I’m very excited to be joining the R&T staff. Public health has always been very important to me, and I will work diligently to make scientifically-sound, risk assessment decisions to ensure the protection of public health,” said Ethridge.

Ethridge has familiarity with laboratory methods and experience applying results from experiments to real-world problems. As a regulatory toxicologist, she’s provided toxicological support to many state agency program areas including water, air, waste, compliance and enforcement, field operations, and agency communications. During her career, Ethridge has worked with such public agencies and organizations as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Energy, Texas Department of State Health Services, numerous local, state, and national government officials, members of the public, and activist groups.

“Shannon’s background and experience will be an asset in supporting IAPMO R&T’s enhancement of services in the drinking water quality arena and expanding business into areas where toxicological reviews are required,” said Anish Desai, IAPMO R&T vice president of product certification. “We are very pleased to welcome her to the R&T team.”

IAPMO R&T certifies products to applicable drinking water quality standards such as NSF/ANSI 61, NSF/ANSI 60, NSF/ANSI 42, NSF/ANSI 44, NSF/ANSI 53, NSF/ANSI 55, NSF/ANSI 58 and NSF/ANSI 372. IAPMO marks of conformity are widely recognized and represent the highest degree of integrity in showing compliance with established codes and standards.

“As we seek to grow an already rapidly expanding drinking water quality systems certification program, it is clear we can better and more efficiently serve our clients by adding Shannon and the considerable expertise she brings to our team,” said Dave Viola, COO of The IAPMO Group. “The addition of an in-house toxicologist, especially an expert with Shannon’s qualifications, will profoundly impact this service positively.”