Taehyun Roh receives 2025 School of Public Health Dean’s Faculty Research Excellence Award

Taehyun Roh, PhD, has received the 2025 Dean’s Faculty Research Excellence Award in recognition of his outstanding research accomplishments at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health.

Roh is an assistant professor in the school’s Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and resident faculty in the Texas A&M Interdisciplinary Program in Toxicology. A highly productive early-career researcher in environmental epidemiology and toxicology, his research centers on the overarching theme of “Enhancing Public Health by Identifying, Understanding, and Reducing Adverse Environmental Health Risks.” He primarily focuses on understanding the health impacts of water contaminants, particularly regarding the effects of arsenic contamination in drinking water on cancer and chronic disease risk. His work is multidisciplinary, drawing on collaborations across toxicology, epidemiology, medicine, geoscience, environmental health, veterinary science and clinical medicine.

In 2020, Roh established the South Texas Arsenic Research Group to address the water quality and health concerns of private well users in rural areas. He integrated biomonitoring, public health interventions and laboratory research to explore toxicity mechanisms and biomarkers. Since 2022, in collaboration with faculty colleague Garett Sansom, DrPH, Roh has expanded his efforts to U.S.–Mexico border communities where he has integrated scientific evidence and community knowledge to address urgent water quality challenges.

Beyond his water projects, he applies his expertise in epidemiology and statistical analysis to a broad range of multidisciplinary studies on public and behavioral health. Examples include testing interventions to improve the mental health of cancer patients, developing school-based vaping prevention programs in Hispanic communities, and examining disparities in cancer care utilization.

Roh has secured $7.5 million in research funding from a variety of sources that include the National Institutes of Health, Houston Methodist Cancer Center, Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, the Texas A&M Center for Environmental Health Research, the Center for Health and Nature, and the Global Institute for Hispanic Health. He has served as principal investigator on 11 of the 15 funded research projects to which he has contributed and has been involved in the submission of 10 new grant proposals to major research funding agencies.