History

Peg Coleman began serving as a medical microbiologist and microbial risk assessor in the US federal government in 1992, and continued that work as founder in 2010 of the woman-owned small business Coleman Scientific Consulting (CSC). Peg’s assessments all address the extensive gaps in scientific knowledge of microbial risks and benefits in health and disease. She is recognized as a trusted adviser, invited expert, educator, and peer-reviewer for methodology to assess microbial risks, including attendant uncertainties due to limited data that is often ambiguous, fragmented, and indirect. Her unique knowledge and collaborative style supports development of coherent models that reflect not just statistical correlations, but more importantly the complexities of biological systems and underlying causal mechanisms.

Many assessments incorporate her insights from environmental and food chain exposures to pathogens from scenarios for intentional biothreat attacks and natural farm-to-fork systems. CSC work continues to raise challenges to use of outdated conservative assumptions that overestimate risk, underestimate uncertainty, and poorly reflect pathogen interactions in complex biological systems like the gastrointestinal tract. Recent manuscripts in the prestigious journals Human and Ecological Risk Assessment and Risk Analysis challenge the outdated assumptions of simple, convenient, but unfortunately, biologically implausible non-threshold models with low-dose linearity as the default for microbial dose-response assessment. These simple models exaggerate risk and underestimate uncertainty, misleading both policy makers and consumers.

CSC work on issues related to the microbiota of milks began in 2014 with a presentation entitled Exploring Disagreements Regarding Health Risks of Raw and Pasteurized Human and Bovine Milk at the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) annual meeting. Since then, Peg has invested time and energy into leadership of a multi-year international project on the Microbiota of Milks, prepared seven manuscripts (five published to date), and presented on the microbiota of milks at events with SRA Past-President Warner North, Cornell University Emeritus Professor Rod Dietert, independent mathematical statistician Nick Azzolina, and database expert Michele Stephenson.

• Peg and Warner presented a 2017 SRA webinar entitled Preparing to Deliberate Evidence on Benefits and Risks Posed by the Microbiota of Milks and a 2018 SRA symposium entitled Communicating Evidence for Benefits and Risks of Raw Milks.

• Peg and Rod presented at a 2018 Upstate NY SRA event at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine entitled Microbiome Benefits and Risks in Neonatology and Later Life.

• Peg and Nick prepared a presentation for the 2019 SRA annual meeting entitled Data and Analysis Debunk Speculations about Raw Milk Risks.

• Peg contributed to the 2019 poster entitled Producing Hygienic Raw Milk: Standards, Testing, and Farmer Education at the 16th International Symposium on Milk Genomics conference, Copenhagen, Denmark

• Peg prepared and presented a 2021 SRA webinar entitled Resilience and the Human Superorganism: Give Us this Day our Daily Microbes

• Peg presented on Recent Evidence for Benefit-Risk Analysis of Raw and Pasteurized Milks for 8th World Congress on Targeting Microbiota 2021 sponsored by the International Society of Microbiota

• Peg and colleagues in SRA Applied Risk Management specialty group organized, presented, and facilitated dialogue in a workshop and two round table panel symposia on the Risk Analysis Quality Test (RAQT) and applications to risk assessments at the SRA annual meeting in Tampa, FL. Click here for workshop flyer.

• Peg presented recent lectures at three Universities:

  o Microbiome and Immunology: Interactions for Risk Assessors from 21st Century Science at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse (2018 to 2023, ENS 470, Environmental Risk Assessment)

  o Considering Risk Management for Complex Systems at Ohio State University (2 lectures in PUBHEHS 7375 Quantitative Microbial Risk Analysis Modeling)

  o Incorporating Food and Gut Microbiota into 21st Century Risk Analysis at University of Liverpool, Institute for Risk and Uncertainty, UK

Click on presentation titles above to download slides sets and view videos.

Get in touch

CSC knows that finding the right scientist and assessor to support evidence-based assessment of risks and benefits is not a choice to be taken lightly. That’s why we offer free consultations to walk you through your needs, the scope of your goals, and your budget.

Book an appointment ▸

Education

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
M.S., Medical Microbiology

UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY
M.S., Biology/Biochemistry

SUNY COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND FORESTRY/SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
B.S., Biology/Chemistry (cum laude)

Professional Affiliations

• American Society for Microbiology (ASM; 1996 - present)

• Fellow of the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) (2020 - present;
  SRA member,1995 - present)

• Elected member of SRA Council (2022-2024)

• International Association of Food Protection Member (1998, 2023-present)

• Raw Milk Institute (RAWMI), Board of Directors (January - June, 2019), Advisory Board (2019 - present)

• SRA Editorial Board for journal Risk Analysis, Member (2006 - 2018)

• SUNY Upstate Medical University Masters in Public Health Board, Member (2011 - 2016)

• SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) Alumni Board, Member (2010 - present)

• The Society of Federal Health Professionals (AMSUS; 2014 - 2016)

• Upstate New York SRA, current President

Recent Presentations

• 2024. Webinar jointly sponsored by IAFP and SRA: Deliberating Evidence for Milkborne Risk Analysis 

• 2023. Presentation at SRA, DC: Incorporating Superorganisms in One Health Approaches

• 2022. Round Table presentation at SRA, Tampa: Learnings from Applying RAQT to Historic Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessments (QMRAs)

• 2022. Invited lecture on Incorporating Food and Gut Microbiota into 21st Century Risk Analysis University of Liverpool, Institute for Risk and Uncertainty, UK

• 2021. Recent Evidence for Benefit-Risk Analysis of Raw and Pasteurized Milks for 8th World Congress on Targeting Microbiota 2021 sponsored by the International Society of Microbiota

• 2021. Invited SRA webinar Resilience and the Human Superorganism: Give Us this Day our Daily Microbes

• 2020. SRA virtual meeting, presentation on Human Data for Time- and Dose-Dependent Severity of COVID-19

• 2019. SRA, Arlington, VA, presentation on Evidence and Analysis Debunk Speculations about Raw Milk Risks

• 2019. 16th International Milk Genomics Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to poster on Producing Hygienic Raw Milk: Standards, Testing, and Farmer Education

• 2018. SRA, New Orleans, LA, organizer/presenter for symposium on Communicating Evidence for Benefits and Risks of Raw Milks

• 2017. SRA, Arlington, VA, organizer/presenter for symposium on Evidence of Benefits and Risks for Fresh and Pasteurized Human and Bovine Milks; co-author on Performance-Based Method for Microbial Risk Assessment for Organizations

• 2017. SRA webinar series on Advancing the Science: Microbiota Informing Next Generation (NextGen) Benefit and Risk Assessment, lecture with introduction by SRA Past-President Warner North on Preparing to Deliberate Evidence on Benefits and Risks Posed by the Microbiota of Milks

• 2017. Air and Waste Management Association/American Industrial Hygiene Association, Skaneateles, NY, invited lecture, Evolution of Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA): Benefits of Low-Dose Exposures

Download Peg's Full Resume and supplemental List of publications and presentations