Stella Hines MD, MSPH
Stella E. Hines, MD, MSPH, is an Occupational Medicine physician and Pulmonologist and serves as the Chief of the Field Studies Branch in the Respiratory Health Division of NIOSH since 6/2023. She previously was Associate Professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where she remains adjunct faculty. She received her B.A. from Rice University, and M.D. from the Texas A&M College of Medicine. She completed internal medicine residency at the University of Chicago Hospitals and pulmonary and critical care fellowship, occupational and environmental medicine residency and Master of Science in Public Health at the University of Colorado-Denver and National Jewish Health.
Prior to NIOSH, her research centered in three key areas: respiratory protection of healthcare workers; military exposures and respiratory disease, and respiratory health effects in construction workers. A world-expert in use of reusable respirators to protect healthcare workers from respiratory hazards, Dr. Hines played a key role in helping hospitals deploy reusable elastomeric respirators and powered air-purifying respirators during the COVID-19 pandemic. She engaged in clinical epidemiologic research linking military exposures, including metals, blast, and depleted uranium, and deployment related respiratory disease and directed the Baltimore VA site of the Post-deployment Cardiopulmonary Evaluation Network. Her construction worker research focuses on health effects among former Department of Energy workers, who faced exposures to radiation, beryllium, and other unique hazards, leading to lung cancer, COPD, and Chronic Beryllium Disease.
As NIOSH Field Studies Branch Chief, she leads multidisciplinary (medical, exposure assessment, epidemiological and analytical) field investigation teams to study occupational risks for respiratory disease in order to prevent these diseases through changes in work practices and policies. This includes worksite health hazard evaluations to directly observe work practices, assess potential hazards, evaluate for health effects, and make recommendations to mitigate hazards using the hierarchy of exposure controls.
Dr. Hines’ interest in exposure-related disease surfaced during a high school science project assessing organophosphate pesticide use and symptoms of over-exposure among veterinary workers. After being inspired by a grand rounds talk on bioterrorism and inhalational lung disease during her internal medicine residency, she decided to pursue combined training in occupational and environmental medicine with pulmonary and critical care medicine as a way to combine her interests.
She first explored the Section on Terrorism and Inhalational Disasters while in fellowship, and was elected to the TID Nominating Committee in 2020. She served as TID Co-Chair and then Chair from 2021-2023 and chaired the Nominating Committee in 2024. Dr. Hines views the TID as an important voice for the ATS in assuring the important aspects of disaster preparedness and inhalational disasters are included as priority areas for ATS actions.
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2023 Member Spotlights
Ruben Manuel Luciano Colunga Biancatelli, MD
Hasan Bayram, MD, PhD, ATSF
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Rafael E. de la Hoz, MD, MPH, MS, ATSF, FACP, FCCP
