About the Guest Editors

**José A. Centeno** is currently serving as the Director of the Division of Biology, Chemistry and Materials Science, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in Silver Spring, Maryland. Prior to his current position, Dr. Centeno served as a Senior Research Scientist and Director of the Biophysical Toxicology Laboratory at the Joint Pathology Center (formerly, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology). Dr. Centeno received his BS (Chemistry) and MS (Physical Chemistry) from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Michigan

State University, and completed his postdoctoral training in biophysics at the U.S. Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Dr. Centeno is the co-founder and immediate Past-President of the International Medical Geology Association, the founder of the International Conference Series on Medical Geology (MEDGEO), and is currently serving as a Regional Officer for the IUGS Commission on Environmental Management. Dr. Centeno has presented over 250 invited seminars and lectures, and he is the principal author and/or co-author of over 150 manuscripts, book chapters, reports, monographs, and research abstracts on various topics of trace elements, metals and metalloids, medical geology, environmental toxicology, and human health. He serves on the Editorial Board of three scientific journals, as associate editor of the book *Essentials of Medical Geology (205 and 2013 editions)*, and as associate editor of the book *Metal Contaminants in New Zealand* (2005). He has served as contributing member in numerous scientific committees including the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC Vol 74 (1999), Lyon, France), NIH grant proposal Study Sections, the International Working Group on Medical Geology, the US National Research Council Committee on Research Priorities for Earth Science and Public Health, the US National Academies—Board on International Organizations. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, London, UK, and holds Adjunct Professorship positions at major national and international universities including School of Science and Technology at Turabo University-Puerto Rico, the School of Science and Technology at Metropolitan University-Puerto Rico, the School of Science and Technology at Universidad del Este in Puerto Rico. He is the recipient of the 2008 Special Recognition Award from the Universidad Metropolitana in Puerto Rico, the 2005 Jackson State University Research and Sponsored Programs Excellence Award, the 1996 and 2003 Superior Civilian Service Award from the US Department of the Army, the 1999 Distinguish Alumni Award on Science from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, Guest Professorship Award from China University of Mining and Technology (2002), Distinguished Professor Award from Turabo University in Puerto Rico (2003), the William Evans Visiting Fellow from University of Otago, School of Medicine in Wellington, New Zealand (2004).

**Robert B. Finkelman**, retired in 2005 after 32 years with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). He is currently a Research Professor in the Dept. of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Dallas and an Adjunct Professor at the China University of Geosciences, Beijing. He is an internationally recognized scientist widely known for his work on coal chemistry and as a leader of the emerging field of Medical Geology. Dr. Finkelman has degrees in

geology, geochemistry, and chemistry. He has a diverse professional background having worked for the federal government (USGS) and private industry (Exxon), and has formed a consulting company (Environmental and Coal Associates). He has lectured and provided mentorship at colleges and universities around the world. Most of Dr. Finkelman's professional career has been devoted to understanding the properties of coal and how these properties affect coal's technological performance, economic byproduct potential, and environmental and health impacts. For the past 20 years, he has devoted his efforts to developing the field of Medical Geology. Dr. Finkelman is the author of more than 700 publications and has been invited to speak in more than 50 countries. Dr. Finkelman has served as Chairman of the Geological Society of America's Coal Geology Division; Chair of the International Association for Cosmochemistry and Geochemistry, Working Group on Geochemistry and Health; founding member and past Chair of the International Medical Geology Association; President of the Society for Organic Petrology; member of the American Registry of Pathology Board of Scientific Directors and is Past-Chair of the GSA's Geology and Health Division. He was a recipient of the Nininger Meteorite Award; recipient of the Gordon H. Wood Jr. Memorial Award from the AAPG Eastern Section; a Fellow of the Geological Society of America; and a recipient of the Cady Award from the GSA's Coal Geology Division. Dr. Finkelman was also awarded a U. S. State Department Embassy Science Fellowship for an assignment in South Africa and was a member of a National Research Council committee looking at the future of coal in the U.S.

**Olle Selinus** is a Ph.D. geologist working with the Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU) and after retirement guest professor at the Linneaus University, Kalmar, Sweden. During the 1960s and 1970s, he worked in mineral exploration, and, since the beginning of the 1980s, his research work has been focused on environmental geochemistry, including research on medical geology. He has served as the organizer of several international conferences in this field, was vice president for the International Geological Congress in Oslo in 2008, and has published well

over 100 papers. Dr. Selinus was also in charge of external research and development at SGU. In 1996 he started the concept of Medical Geology as the "father of medical geology" and was, in 2006, the cofounder and, after that, president of the International Medical Geology Association, IMGA. He was Editor-in-Chief for the book "*Essentials of Medical Geology*", This book received several international awards and a new updated revision was published in 2013. He has received several international awards and has been appointed Geologist of the Year in Sweden because of Medical Geology. He also chaired the "Earth and Health" team of the International Year of Planet Earth 2008–2009 of the UN National Assembly. He has also been chief editor for other books on medical geology.
