DURHAM, NC – Randall A. Kramer, professor of environmental economics and global health at 91ÉçÇø¸£Àû’s Nicholas School of the Environment and deputy director of the Duke Global Health Institute, has been appointed by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius to serve on the National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council.

The council advises the secretary, the director of the National Institutes of Health and director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences on scientific program priorities related to environmental health research.

Kramer will serve a three-year term.

Trained as an environmental economist, Kramer’s research focuses on the relationship between human behavior, environmental management and human health.  He is currently leading a four-year research initiative, funded with a $2.2 million National Institutes of Health grant, on community based interventions for controlling malaria.  The project is conducting randomized experiments on the effectiveness of microbial larvicides and home based health care in reducing malaria infections in rural Tanzania.

Kramer was honored as Duke’s 2004 University Scholar/Teacher of the Year, and has twice been named Teacher of the Year at the Nicholas School.

He has held visiting positions at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Yale University’s Economic Growth Center and the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry, and has served as a consultant to the World Bank, World Health Organization and other international conservation and development organizations.