Fred Kopfler, Ph.D.
EPA-Gulf of Mexico Program

Fred Kopfler is a native of Louisiana. He received a BS in chemistry from Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond and a Masters and PhD in Biochemistry and Food Science and Technology from Louisiana State University.

After a two year post-doctoral at the US Department of Agriculture's Protein Pioneering Laboratory in Philadelphia, PA, he worked at the US Public Health Laboratory at Dauphin Island, Alabama investigating the pesticide and trace metal contaminants in shellfish.

When the US EPA was formed, he became one of the charter employees and moved to Cincinnati, OH where he worked until 1989 on the health effects of chemical contaminants and disinfection by-products in drinking water.

In 1989 he joined the newly formed Gulf of Mexico Program with offices at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. At the Gulf of Mexico Program he has worked on public health issues associated with the use of the Gulf's waters and its seafood products including chemical contaminants of seafood; sewage pollution of shellfish growing waters and recreational waters; and harmful algal blooms.