Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI)

HESI was established in 1989 under the scientific leadership of their 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, they opted to establish their 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, their team of 13 staff provide leadership to over fifty scientific projects and programs that benefit human and environmental health. In their more than 30 years, HESI has produced scientific research that informs applied health protection decision-making around the globe.

HESI Mission:
At HESI, it is their mission to collaboratively identify and help to resolve global health and environmental challenges through the engagement of scientists from academia, government, industry, clinical practice, research institutes, and NGOs. They achieve that in a variety of ways:
Create a collaborative environment where scientists from academia, government, industry, and NGOs come together to find solutions that improve health and environmental safety.
Encourage the development of meaningful studies that ask the right questions, structure the right framework, and develop solutions that inform decision-making by both private- and public-sector scientists.
Create a knowledge base that 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 their organization and they are the principles that guide the decisions and actions of their staff to support their overall vision and mission.
• They create opportunities to collaborate.
• They are driven by solutions.
• They are transparent.
• They are independent.
• They are committed to excellence.