Dr.   Byrd has held a variety of offices at the U.S.   Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),  including the Office of Chemical Control,  the Office of Pesticide Programs,  Carcinogen Assessment Group,  and the Science Advisory Board,  for which he was awarded the Silver Medal for Management and Leadership.   He has been an executive in three trade associations and was a principal in the firm Consultants in Toxicology,  Risk Assessment and Product Safety (CTRAPS),  a Washington,  DC-based company formed to help clients acquire,  interpret,  and use biomedical information.   He is the author of more than 40 scientific articles and 100 regulatory documents,  and co-author of the textbook,  Introduction to Risk Analysis: A Systematic Approach to Science-Based Decision Making,  which was published in 2000.

Dr.   Byrd received his Ph.D.   in Pharmacology from Yale University and became certified by the American Board of Toxicology in 1982.   He is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research,  International Society for Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology,  Society for Epidemiologic Research,  Society of Toxicology,  American Association for the Advancement of Science,  Society for Risk Analysis,  American College of Toxicology,  American Chemical Society and Sigma Xi.