Education
PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2014
MPH, George Washington University, 2007
AB, Bowdoin College, 2002
Overview
My goal is to provide high quality evidence to inform environmental policies targeted at improving children’s health. My research is grounded in the developmental origins of health and disease framework and focuses on determining effects of early life exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals. I am actively engaged in evaluating the environmental obesogen hypothesis, which posits that chemical exposures during critical developmental windows can result in permanent changes that predispose individuals toward obesity. To this end, I have examined maternal phthalate and phenol biomarker concentrations during gestation in relation to childhood body mass index and fat mass in several longitudinal birth cohort studies.
In addition, my work incorporates exposure assessment and modern epidemiologic approaches to produce robust evidence. I have assessed the utility of biomarkers of exposure to several classes of environmental chemicals that have widespread human exposure, including among pregnant women and children. I am also keenly interested in the development of approaches for examining effects of complex mixtures, such as Bayesian and causal inference methods, with the aim of evaluating potential public health interventions.
Honors and Awards
Advancing Green Chemistry Science Communication Fellowship (2017)
Barbara Sorenson Hulka Dissertation Award, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2015)
Delta Omega, the National Honorary Society in Public Health, Omega Chapter (2006) & Theta Chapter (2015)
Marilyn and Al Tyroler Endowed Scholarship in Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2014)
Society for Epidemiologic Research Student Dissertation Workshop (2012)
Nancy A. Dreyer Endowed Scholarship in Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2011)
NICHD Reproductive, Perinatal, and Pediatric Epidemiology Predoctoral Training Grant (2012-2013)
6th Annual NICHD-IHDCYH Summer Institute in Reproductive and Perinatal Epidemiology (2010)
NIEHS Environmental Epidemiology Predoctoral Training Grant (2008-2011)