Dr. Sam Myoda joined IEH in 2007. He earned his Ph.D. in Civil & Environmental Engineering and his B.S. in Environmental Science/Biology from the University of Delaware. He was the recipient of the Wesley W. Horner Award presented by the Environmental and Water Resources Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
Prior to joining IEH, Dr. Myoda worked at the State of Delaware, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), and the Division of Water Resources (DWS). There, he set up and directed the Molecular Biology Laboratory and was also involved in many projects including microbial source tracking, research, method development, computer modeling for water quality and hydrodynamics, risk assessments, water and wastewater treatment, environmental monitoring, and regulatory and compliance issues.
During his time with DNREC, Dr. Myoda collaborated with IEH on numerous microbial source tracking and water quality projects. In 2006, he was the recipient of the DNREC/DWR “Employee of the Year” award. As a result of his accomplishments at DNREC, he was invited to participate at the 2007 Experts Scientific Workshop on Critical Research Needs for the Development of New or Revised Recreational Water Quality Criteria.
At IEH, Dr. Myoda’s primary focus is related to food safety. He is well versed in all aspects of food production, including GAPs, GMPs, HACCP, FSMA, water quality, treatment processes, environmental monitoring, root cause analysis, sanitation, facility design, and data analysis. He focuses on supporting the produce industry, outbreak and regulatory support, bioinformatics and next-generation sequencing (WGS and metagenomics), method development, process optimization, and program innovation.
Dr. Myoda has served as a consulting and testifying expert in various legal cases, including but not limited to the 2006 spinach E. coli O157 outbreak, Tyson et al. vs. Oklahoma (2007), and Plaintiffs vs. Climb Works (2019). In addition to legal cases, he regularly consults with food companies on risk assessments, program development and implementation, product testing, and regulatory issues.
