Rachel Morello-Frosch

Rachel Morello-Frosch is Professor of Environmental Science, Policy and Management and the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. She has an MPH in epidemiology and biostatistics and a Ph.D. in environmental health sciences from UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. Dr. Morello-Frosch’s research examines race and class determinants of environmental health among diverse communities in the United States. A focus of her current work is assessing the relationship between social inequality, psychosocial stress and how these factors may interact with chemical exposures to amplify pollution/health outcome relationships and produce environmental health inequalities. Much of her work has examined this question in the context of ambient air pollution and indoor chemical exposures and children’s health, often using community-based participatory research approaches for data collection and risk communication. As part of this work she also explores the scientific challenges and bioethical considerations associated with exposure assessment and chemical biomonitoring research in economically and racially marginalized communities. Dr. Morello-Frosch has also examined ways in which measures of material deprivation (e.g. poverty) and social inequality (e.g. racial residential segregation) may modify observed relationships between pollution exposures and poor perinatal outcomes such as low birth weight and risk of preterm delivery. In collaboration with scientific colleagues, community stakeholders, and regulatory scientists, she has worked to develop scientifically valid and transparent tools for assessing the cumulative impacts of chemical and non-chemical stressors to inform decision-making and environmental policy in ways that advance environmental justice goals and that address the disparate impacts of chemical and non-chemical stressors in vulnerable communities. Dr. Morello-Frosch’s work is funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Science Foundation, California Air Resources Board, California Environmental Protection Agency, the Wellness Foundation, and the California Endowment, among others. She has published widely in the environmental health, social science, public health and risk assessment fields.