Epidemiology Expert Witnesses

Epidemiology frequently decides whether large-scale product, environmental, and occupational exposure litigation can proceed at all. Manufacturers, chemical companies, employers, food producers, and their insurers face claims that a product, emission, or workplace exposure caused disease across a population, and the viability of those claims often rests on the epidemiological literature. Food companies and suppliers litigate responsibility for outbreaks among themselves, while regulated industries contest air quality standards and risk assessments that carry major compliance costs. The central question is usually whether reliable population-based evidence supports a causal relationship between the exposure and the disease, and at what level of exposure any risk actually arises.

An epidemiology expert helps counsel evaluate that evidence with the rigor courts expect. The analysis typically examines study design, exposure assessment, confounding, bias, statistical power, and dose-response relationships, then weighs the body of literature using recognized frameworks for inferring causation. Meta-analysis and critical appraisal can reveal whether an apparent association holds up across studies or depends on a few flawed ones, which often shapes general causation rulings under Rule 702. In outbreak disputes, epidemiologists can trace transmission, identify the likely source, and assess whether suppliers and processors followed food safety and HACCP practices, while risk assessors can evaluate how regulatory standards were derived. Those opinions support or challenge causation and liability and help frame damages, including claims for medical monitoring.

Epidemiology includes environmental, occupational, infectious disease, clinical, and cancer subspecialties, and the expert who can dissect an occupational cohort study may not be the right witness on outbreak tracing or cardiovascular drug safety. Experts in our network include a risk assessment scientist with a 29-year career at the Environmental Protection Agency and two decades consulting for the World Health Organization, foodborne illness epidemiologists who have testified dozens of times on outbreaks and HACCP practices, and occupational and environmental physicians who have testified nearly one hundred times on cancer, heavy metals, solvents, and medical monitoring. The network also includes toxicologists and epidemiologists who have testified on National Ambient Air Quality Standards and chemical product safety, cardiovascular epidemiologists who have testified on pharmaceutical liability, and members of federal expert panels convened to analyze occupational exposures. Round Table Group has conducted more than 75,000 expert searches and applies that experience to identifying the epidemiologist whose research fits the exposure and disease in your case. Reach out to discuss your matter by calling us at (202) 908-4500.