Sharyle Patton

Sharyle is director of the Commonweal Biomonitoring Resource Center, where she has been employed for 20 years. Her program, working with such entities as Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, the Environmental Working Group, California Department of Public Environmental Health Investigations Branch, International Association of Fire Fighters, and the NGO network, Coming Clean Collaborative, has pioneered the implementation of biomonitoring projects initiated by community-based organizations and the communication of the data from such projects to project participants. Sharyle has been a member of the Experts Group of the California Environmental Health Tracking Program for the past six years.

Sharyle is special projects director for Commonweal’s Collaborative on Health and Environment, a network of more than 3,000 health professionals, scientists, and representatives from health-affected groups interested in exploring linkages between environment and health outcomes. Her arena of interest has been to create pathways of communication among community groups and government agencies, to develop effective strategies for policy formulation and reform, and to promote community-based participatory research and the integration of such research into policy discussions at all levels.

Sharyle was northern co-chair from 1998 to 2001 for the International POPs Elimination Network, which worked closely with governments to formulate the Stockholm Convention, a legally binding treaty that eliminates or severely restricts 12 of POPs chemicals. She was responsible for educating community groups and United Nations government delegates about POPs chemicals and for coordinating NGO participation in United Nations deliberations. Previously, Sharyle was director of the United States Citizens Network for Sustainable Development and served as NGO liaison on United States delegations to the United Nations Commission, and the United Nations Habitat Summit, and was an NGO delegate to the United Nations women’s conferences, focusing on women’s sexual rights and reproductive health.