McLean, VA 22101

Phone: 202-755-4937

Fax: 202-755-1000

David E. Jacobs was appointed Director of the Office of Lead Hazard Control in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on July 18, 1995.

Dr. Jacobs is responsible for establishing policies and programs to prevent childhood lead poisoning caused by exposure to lead-based paint hazards in housing. He coordinates and oversees the Department’s grant programs to state and local governments to finance lead hazard control in privately-owned, low-income housing, technical assistance and guidelines in development, technical studies, regulation and standards development, enforcement and public education. He is also responsible for advising the Secretary of HUD on lead-based paint matters and coordinating activities with other Federal agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Before joining HUD, Jacobs was Deputy Director of the National Center for Lead-Safe Housing, a non-profit scientific research and policy development organization and was on the faculty at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he served as Director of the Southern Lead-Based Paint Training Consortium (which included the Georgia Institute of Technology, Texas A&M, and Louisiana State University). He was also a chemistry instructor at Oakland University. Jacobs has conducted numerous research projects on lead-based paint detection and hazard control technologies. He pioneered the development of lead-based paint risk assessment protocols in the public housing program and is the principal author of the HUD Guidelines for the Evaluation and Control of Lead-Based Paint Hazards in Housing and many other publications.

Jacobs earned his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering and holds an M.S. in Technology and Science Policy, a B.S. in Environmental Health, and a B.A.