Dr. Vlasta Molak
tel. 513/591-2581
President
fax. 513/521-0506
GAIA UNLIMITED, Inc.
5300 Hamilton Avenue, # 1005
Cincinnati, OH 452224
E-mail: vlasta1@email.com
Dr. Molak is the founder and President of GAIA UNLIMITED, Inc., a consulting company dealing with environmental and occupational risk assessment, risk management and general environmental problems, including strategies for pollution prevention and sustainable development. She has been teaching courses for risk analysis, and sustainability (including courses for local and state governments). Dr. Molak represented US at the 4-day workshop on "How to improve environmental awareness of local decision makers in Eastern Europe, sponsored by the European Commission, taught in a training program organized by Taft's University Environmental Management Program in Brazil at the University of Cuiaba and University of Sao Paulo on "Environmental Risk Assessment and Risk Management" for professionals involved in Brazilian environmental management and taught a course at the United Nations headquarters (New York) on "The Use of Risk Analysis in Sustainable Development". Dr. Molak edited and was a major contributor of a reference and textbook FUNDAMENTALS OF RISK ANALYSIS AND RISK MANAGEMENT, which was published in 1997 by CRC Press/Lewis Publishers, and THE ALASKA STORY: Comprehensive Approach to Problems with Oil Spills in Marine Environments, a Proceeding of the Workshop she organized as a president of a non-profit organization, The Biotechnology Forum.
In 1999 she worked as a Congressional fellow in the US Congress on environmental issues and Kyoto Protocol. Her research was on how energy conservation and efficiency combined with emission trading can decrease US dependence on fossil fuels and improve economy. Also, she has been developing a Kyoto Index (KItm), a comprehensive index that will measure the ecological footprint of various energy producers and thus enable an educated and environmentally conscious consumer to make better energy choices when the electric energy deregulation becomes complete in the USA.
Dr. Vlasta Molak was the International Coordinator and Secretary of the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA). In that role she has served to increase the SRA standing in international community and the establishing sections of the SRA in developing countries and Eastern Europe. She convened an International Communication network to promote uses of risk analysis in solving some of the environmental problems resulting from misuse of technology. As a part of her international activities she also chaired the Environmental Committee of the Cincinnati- Kharkov Sister City Project. She had also given lectures and conducted round table discussions in Zagreb and Kharkov on The Uses of Risk Analysis in Evaluating and Ranking Environmental Problems, which were attended by professionals from diverse fields interested in solving their countries pressing environmental problems.
Dr. Molak is the founder and president of the Biotechnology Forum, Inc. in Cincinnati and chairs the Subcommittee for Technical Interpretation of the Local Emergency Planning Committee for Hamilton County, Ohio. Under her leadership, the Biotechnology Forum has organized series of lectures and workshops in biotechnology area. The workshop, The Alaska Story: In the Context of Oil Spill Problems in the Marine Environments, with special emphasis on the biological clean-up efforts, resulted in the proceedings edited by Dr. Molak. As a chair of the Subcommittee for Technical Interpretation, Dr. Molak initiated the efforts for hazard analysis in Hamilton County and formulated the strategy to complete the first stage of hazard analysis. She coordinated the efforts to deal with more complex aspects of chemical safety: process safety in manufacturing plants; transportation of hazardous materials; and adverse effects of routine chronic releases of toxic chemicals. Dr. Molak believes that her professional expertise in risk analysis should be applied for the betterment of the community in which she lives.). She was also a member of the planning committee for Comparative Risk Analysis for Hamilton County (Cincinnati, Ohio) and a Member of the Quality of Life Committee of the Ohio Comparative Risk Analysis Project.
Dr. Molak has worked at the US Environmental Protection Agency and at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) on developing methodologies for risk analysis of toxic chemicals, genetically engineered organisms and technologies. These methodologies are used to derive various environmental and occupational criteria, which serve as a basis for standards. Her training is interdisciplinary: she has a B.Sc. in physical engineering, an MS in chemistry, a Ph.D. in biochemistry and post-doctoral training in molecular genetics.