Jerome Nriagu is an environmental chemist whose current research interests focus on the sources, fate, and effects of toxic metals in the environment.

His research areas encompass environmental health and environmental epidemiology and include exposure assessment, risk evaluation, and environmental impact assessment. He directs a laboratory dedicated to research on various toxic metals and their effects on human beings.

Nriagu is engaged in the study of childhood lead poisoning in Africa, the Caribbean, and Detroit, Michigan. He has shown that childhood lead poisoning is a major public health problem in most urban areas of Africa where highly leaded gasoline remains the primary automobile fuel.

Additionally, he is concerned about the environmental risk factors that may contribute to black children in Detroit and other areas being disproportionately affected by asthma symptoms. Finally, in response to reports that elevated levels of arsenic have been found in several counties in southeast Michigan, Nriagu has initiated a project to assess the relationships between bladder cancer and ingestion of arsenic in drinking water of the counties affected.

In 1999, Nriagu received the Miroslaw Romanowski Medal for Significant Contributions (to the resolution of scientific aspects of environmental problems) from the Royal Society of Canada. In 2002, Nriagu received the Senior Fullbright Fellowship for teaching/research at the University of West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica. Dr. Nriagu was honored with the Outstanding Research Award by the School of Public Health in 2004.