Predoctoral Trainees

Autumn entered the program in September 2018 with a Master’s of Science in Epidemiology. She is working under Dr. Pam Factor-Litvak in the Department of Epidemiology. Her current research focuses on evaluating the impact of socio-environment (e.g., phthalate and psychosocial stress exposures) on adverse pregnancy outcomes in an ethnically diverse nulliparous pregnancy cohort in the United States.

Jocelyn entered the program 2021 with a BS in Chemistry from Yale University. At Yale, her research primarily focused on organic synthesis. She also spent time doing bioengineering research using C. elegans and microfluidic devices. After graduating, she worked at NYU for half a year in Dr. Kurunthachalam Kannan’s lab. She focused on analyzing concentrations of metabolite organophosphate esters (mOPEs) in urine using mass spectroscopy. Her current research interests include neurotoxicology, biomonitoring, and using animal models to explore the outcomes of toxins or toxicants on health.

Alana Ferris received a Bachelor’s in Cell and Developmental Biology from University of Rochester.  Her first semester included a rotation under Dr. Maya Deyssenroth, which involved a project examining how traffic-related air pollution that reaches a developing fetus may alter the placental epitranscriptome and, ultimately, affect neurodevelopment outcomes.  Currently, she is rotating with Dr. Julie Herbstman and working on a project assessing personal care product exposure data in the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health Fair Start Cohort and corresponding levels of parabens, phenols, and phthalates.

Emma Gorin began her PhD in the EHS Climate and Health program in the fall of 2020. She was supported by the T32 training grant during the 2020-2021 academic year. Emma received an MSPH in Global Disease Epidemiology and Control from Johns Hopkins University in 2019, where her research included investigating sanitation availability in northern India and mobility among female sex workers in Guinea-Bissau. She also spent a semester in Cameroon working on implementation research and programming for key populations at risk for HIV. Prior to starting her master’s program, she worked in health education, clinical research, and international non-profit settings. Emma’s current research interests include infectious disease dynamics, emerging infections, antimicrobial resistant pathogens, and SARS-CoV-2.

Nicole began her PhD in Epidemiology in 2022.  She received her MSc in epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2020. She was formerly a member of the Environment and Health Statistics Group and MRC Centre for Environment and Health at Imperial College London and has worked on studies evaluating the impact of airport noise on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and estimating smoking behaviors in England at the small area level using routinely collected data. Her current interests include how environmental exposures and the built environment influence non-communicable disease risk and ​in applying advanced environmental epidemiological and life course methods to pressing public health issues in the context of urbanization and the changing climate.

Maggie Li started her PhD in 2019 working under the mentorship of Drs. Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou and Ana Navas-Acien. She received her BS in Conservation and Resource Studies and BA in Geography at UC Berkeley in 2019. Her current research primarily focuses on quantifying air pollution exposure and health impacts in American Indian communities. Her primary research area centers on applying data science and statistical methods to quantify air pollution exposure and health impacts in marginalized communities through an interdisciplinary, environmental justice-focused framework.

Catherine began her PhD in the fall of 2021. She graduated in 2019 from Vassar College with a B.A. in Biochemistry and, after graduation, worked as a next-generation sequencing technician in the lab of Dr. Junhyong Kim at the University of Pennsylvania. Catherine is interested how a mechanistic understanding of adverse health effects can inform large-scale environmental risk assessment and hopes to focus on reproductive and developmental endpoints. Her recent work with Dr. Brandon Pearson involved developing methods to isolate individual blastomeres from 8-cell stage mouse embryos. With Dr. Kathrin Schilling she will be working with arsenic and selenium metallomics.

Prior to joining the Environmental Health Sciences department in 2021, Danielle received a MS in Environmental and Occupational Health from the University of Iowa, and was a research analyst at the National Cancer Institute for several years. Danielle has an interest in exposure assessment and GIS methods. Her research topics include air pollution, drinking water quality and risk of cancer, as well as household air pollution and WASH in developing nations (previous field work: Bangladesh, Nicaragua, Haiti). Currently, she is involved in a project describing maternal and child exposure to fine particulate matter within the household and community, near roadways and by surrounding building density in Kintampo, Ghana (mentor: Dr. Darby Jack). She is also involved in a project to evaluate the association between arsenic in drinking water and risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease outcomes in California (mentors: Drs. Tiffany Sanchez, Ana Navas-Acien).   

Brittany started her PhD in Fall 2021. Previously, she was the Project Director for the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education (GCCHE), based at the Mailman School. Brittany has worked to advance research on environmental health and climate change in other roles at the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health, Harvard University’s David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies in Santiago, Chile, and Harvard Business School. Brittany has presented internationally on climate-health education and environmental health topics. She received a master’s degree from Harvard University and bachelor’s degree from Boston University. As a PhD student, she is interested in conducting research on the health impacts of climate change, climate-health mitigation and adaptation strategies, and environmental justice. 

Shabnaz entered the program in 2019. Her current research focuses on endocrine disrupting chemicals specifically phthalates and its effect on maternal and fetal outcomes. Prior to her doctoral training, Shabnaz worked with large administrative health databases to understand childhood risk factors connected to chronic diseases such as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and the disparities in the care of Canadian patients’ with IBD. She is also experienced in mixed methods where she conducted qualitative interviews to understand patients’ and families’ experience living with pediatric inherited metabolic diseases to inform patient-centered care and lead the development of a survey that identified priority patient and family centered outcomes to develop care across Canada. She received her MSc in Epidemiology from the University of Ottawa in 2016.

Maya entered the PhD program in September 2019 with a Master of Science in Environmental Health & Engineering, and a certificate in Risk Sciences & Public Policy. She is working under the mentorship of Dr. Ana Navas-Acien and Dr. Annie Nigra. In summer 2020, Maya received the NIEHS Superfund Research Program KC Donnelly Externship Award. This award supported her externship with Dr. Melissa Lombard and Joseph Ayotte at the US Geological Survey New England Water Science Center, where she studied arsenic exposure in public water supplies and private wells and evaluates the effectiveness of federal regulations, with a focus on vulnerable populations. 

Raenita Spriggs entered the program in with a BA in public health from UC Berkeley and an MPH from UCLA. Her research explores the impacts of climate-related exposures on communities historically burdened by environmental injustice. Since the fall semester, she has been completing a research rotation under the mentorship of Dr. Annie Nigra where she is pooling relevant data sources and characterizing multiple environmental exposures impacting incarcerated populations across the United States and territories (i.e., air pollution, drinking water quality, extreme heat, wildfires, and power outages).