Meet our newest Faculty Member & Featured Researcher, Dr. McDonough
Dr. McDonough’s overarching research objective is to develop a comprehensive understanding
of 
how synthetic organic contaminants impact aquatic ecosystems and human health by combining
innovative environmental chemistry and bioanalytical techniques, state-of-the-art
mass spectrometry, and field monitoring campaigns. Her work protects the public from
exposure to harmful pollutants and draws attention to the global ubiquity of organic
contaminants. She received her B.Sc. in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT) and her Ph.D. in Chemical Oceanography from the University of
Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography (URI GSO). Dr. McDonough is excited to
build a research program at Stony Brook that uses high-resolution mass spectrometry
to investigate how the densely populated NYC and Long Island region impacts the health
of its human inhabitants and the integrity of regional coastal environments.
Dr. McDonough uses cutting-edge environmental monitoring and analytical chemistry techniques to study the fate, transport, and biological effects of anthropogenic organic contaminants in aquatic environments. These are chemicals like per/polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), organic flame retardants, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pesticides, and pharmaceuticals. She is interested in how the molecular structure and chemical properties of pollutants influence their fate in the environment, as well as their biological effects in aquatic organisms and humans. Her research helps us understand human and ecosystem health risk associated with organic contaminants in water and to identify particular compounds of concern that should be prioritized for remediation and toxicological investigation.
Dr. McDonough’s current work uses high-resolution mass spectrometry suspect screening to identify PFASs that can accumulate in the body, possibly contributing to human health problems. PFASs are “forever chemicals” that have become ubiquitous drinking water contaminants, causing serious human exposure incidents in many places, including communities in New York. There are thousands of PFASs in the environment, though most monitoring methods being used today measure less than 50.
Dr. McDonough is collaborating with Dr. Jamie DeWitt at East Carolina University to understand how PFASs in an aqueous firefighting foam (AFFF) mixture accumulate in the body using a mouse model. She is also working on a monitoring campaign to measure PFASs in drinking water and human blood in El Paso County, CO, where drinking water was contaminated by AFFF for several years before mitigation occurred. Her work has highlighted several novel PFASs that are enriched in blood. To date, little to no toxicological testing has been done on these compounds.
