Children's Environmental Health Research

My research on children’s environmental health is informed by my policy experience at the EPA. I use quantitative approaches, including risk assessment principles and systems theory, alongside social determinants of health theories, to better understand the drivers behind disparities in exposure to environmental contaminants and social stressors.

I apply these methods in my research to improve health outcomes in communities disproportionately affected — particularly among racial and ethnic minority groups, low-income communities, children, and young adults.

I have expanded my work to be more interdisciplinary, focusing on cumulative neurotoxic chemical exposures affecting children’s brain development.

Identifying highly exposed individuals during critical developmental periods can help target policies and interventions to reduce environmental chemical exposures and adverse health impacts.

Interdisciplinary Approaches Informing Children's Neurodevelopment

Public health policies informed by risk assessments focusing on common biological targets of environmental contaminants and nonchemical stressors can simultaneously reduce exposure to multiple harmful substances. Neurodevelopmental and cognitive outcomes in children are especially well-suited to benefit from this interdisciplinary approach.

Children’s neurodevelopment reflects complex interactions between social determinants of health, including environmental contaminant exposures and nonchemical stressors across individual, family, community, and national levels.