Dr. Harshitha Lingegowda, MBBS, is an environmental health scientist and physician currently pursuing her MSc in Environmental Health and Engineering at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research focuses on the intersection of asthma, pediatric environmental exposures, and endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as phthalates, with particular attention to respiratory outcomes in children. Drawing from her clinical training and experience as a Medical Officer in India, she integrates epidemiology, exposure science, and patient-centered care to translate research into actionable public health interventions. Harshitha is also deeply engaged in climate and health examining how climate change amplifies respiratory disease burdens and environmental inequities. Through data-driven analysis and policy engagement, she aims to advance sustainable, equity-focused strategies that protect children’s health in a changing climate.

R2A Fellowship Project: Developing Climate Storytelling Resources and Training for Children’s Environmental Health Champions

Cézar Luquine is a PhD candidate in Public Health at the University of São Paulo studying how schools—from building conditions to social climate—can protect or harm teenagers’ health in Brazil, Switzerland, and Uruguay. With a background in Epidemiology and Psychology, he has worked with federal and local health departments to inform policy decisions and service management. Cézar is invested in translating research findings into policies that create safer, healthier environments for children and adolescents.

R2A Fellowship Project (not sure if we are settled on a name): "Best practices to communicate environmental health to policy-makers"

Kate Marquess, PhD, MA, MPH is Postdoctoral Research Scholar in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research focuses on better understanding how early life chemical exposures impacts child growth and development. She is passionate about protecting the health of moms and children, using effective science communication, and empowering the next generation of environmental health professionals through mentorship and collaboration.

R2A Fellowship Project: Wee Warriors and PRoTECT Social Media Campaigns

Amy Kuritzky is a PhD student in Sociocultural Anthropology and MS student in Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Michigan. She is interested in environmental justice and health equity, and her current research looks at ambient hydrogen sulfide exposure in Michigan. She is passionate about experimenting with research methods, including bringing together ethnographic and quantitative data.

Sumaira Akbarzada is a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) candidate in Health Policy and Leadership at Loma Linda University, with a focus on advancing equitable health systems for vulnerable communities. Her work centers on Medicaid policy, maternal and reproductive health, and the intersection of environmental and social determinants of health affecting children and families. Through the Research-to-Action Fellowship with the International Society for Children’s Health and the Environment (ISCHE), she supports the translation of children’s environmental health research into accessible policy tools and advocacy resources. Sumaira has professional experience with Insure the Uninsured Project and Upstream USA, where she has conducted policy analysis and stakeholder engagement to expand access to care. She is committed to community-centered, evidence-based policy solutions that promote environmental justice and improve health outcomes for underserved populations.

R2A Fellowship Project: Translating evidence into policy to advance children’s environmental health and health equity through science-to-policy communication and stakeholder engagement.

Siti Nurshahida Nazli

Shida is an academician at Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia who is now doing her postdoctoral research fellowship at the Centre for Children’s Health Research, University of Queensland, Australia. Her PhD is in Environmental Health and Safety, focusing on the dynamics of indoor pollutants and their profound effects on human health. She is passionate about exploring the intersections between air quality and its impact on children.  

R2A Fellowship Project: Project 3: Wee Warriors and PRoTECT Social Media Campaigns

Andrea Lizette Caro Herbert is a PhD Candidate in Toxicology at CINVESTAV-IPN, Mexico, specializing in Reproductive Health and Environmental Exposure. Originally from Nayarit, her research focuses on how pesticide exposure impacts oocyte quality and intercellular communication, which is vital to understanding women's fertility.
Beyond the lab, Andrea is a certified Lactation Consultant and the founder of “Mamá Toxicóloga,” a science communication initiative where she translates complex toxicological data into actionable guidance for families. Her mission is to replace parental anxiety with evidence-based confidence, empowering mothers to navigate pregnancy, breastfeeding, and infant care in a safe and informed environment.

R2A Fellowship project: Improved Lead Messaging

Lara Kowalcyk is currently in her last semester of her Master of Public Policy Program, specializing in international environmental policy. She has an undergraduate degree in math and environmental studies from Wellesley College. She has also interned at various organizations like World Resources Institute. In her free time, she enjoys exploring coffee shops, reading, and hiking! Lara is planning to attend law school after she finishes her Master of Public Policy program and is excited to bring her perspectives to ISCHE.

R2A Fellowship Project: Project 4 - How do we talk about CEH so policy makers and the public listen and hear

Dr. Olivia Halabicky is an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan School of Nursing with joint appointments in the School of Public Health Nutritional Sciences Department and the Environmental Health Sciences Department. She is a children’s environmental health nurse scientist who studies early life environmental and social determinants of cognitive, physical, and mental health. Her research focuses on how exposures in the global sphere (e.g., toxicants, adversity, nutrition) at sensitive periods shape health trajectories and influence health disparities, as well as physiological mechanisms that may mediate these effects. Her goal is to inform interventions and policy that reduce the long-term health impacts of toxicant exposures in children most at risk.

R2A Fellowship Project: Improved Lead Messaging – Part II

Nataly Damasceno de Figueiredo is a Professor of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Souza Marques Medical School, where she has taught medical students for 15 years. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Public Health Institute of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), investigating the effects of metal mixtures on fetal development. With extensive experience in environmental epidemiology, she serves as the executive coordinator of the PIPA project, a Brazilian birth cohort study investigating the individual and combined effects of environmental pollutants on maternal and child health. She believes in the power of knowledge translation to bridge the gap between science and public health, ensuring that research effectively protects children’s health.

R2A Fellowship Project: Developing Climate Storytelling Resources and Training for Children’s Environmental Health Champions

Rezaul Karim Ripon is an environmental health epidemiologist and Research Assistant in the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. My work focuses on how environmental contaminants, particularly PFAS, toxic metals, air pollution, and chemical mixtures—affect cardiovascular, respiratory, and reproductive health across the life course. I use population-based data, advanced statistical methods, and decision analysis to inform public health policy and prevention strategies, with a strong commitment to health equity, environmental justice, and anti-racism.

R2A Fellowship Project: Mundo Químico: Bridging environmental health science and communities through accessible education on chemical exposures and cardiovascular risk, with a focus on health equity and environmental justice.

Kristina Brandveen

Kristina Brandveen is a PhD student within the Joint Doctoral Program in Public Health at San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego. She holds a Master of Public Health from the Colorado School of Public Health. Her research implores health behavior applications to environmental and occupational epidemiology for health equity. Her dissertation measures the perception of risk using industrial products in family shoe-making workshops of Ticul, Yucatán, México.

R2A Fellowship Project: Indiana Lead Communication

Morgan Crotta is a chemist and environmental health professional with a Master of Public Health in Global Environmental Health and Policy and a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry. She serves as a Laboratory Specialist at the University of the District of Columbia, working within the Environmental Quality Testing Laboratory and the DC Water Resources Research Institute, where she is leading a PFAS research and analysis initiative focused on water quality and community exposure. As an ISCHE Research-to-Action Fellow, her project addresses electronic waste (e-waste) and children’s toxic exposures in the Global South, translating scientific evidence into policy-facing resources for decision-makers. She recently served as a Youth Science Delegate to the UN Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Chemicals, Waste and Pollution, contributing technical expertise and supporting formal science-policy reporting processes to strengthen global environmental health governance.

R2A Fellowship Project: Addressing E-Waste and Children’s Chemical Exposures in the Global South

Precious Angelica A. Echague is an early-career researcher for the Embodied Ecologies Project at Wageningen University & Research, studying and co-designing harm reduction strategies with Filipino shoemakers exposed to everyday toxicities. She finished her Bachelor's degree in Anthropology at the University of the Philippines Diliman, and her research interests include studying notions and intersections of bodies, ecologies, and care. She also leads Saribuhay, an initiative in the Philippines committed to localizing science communication through storytelling and inspiring action through grassroots engagement.

Dr. Rehnuma Haque is a physician and Assistant Scientist in the Environmental Health and WASH group at icddr,b, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. Her research focuses on environmental exposure science, including heavy metals, microbial contamination, and climate-related health risks affecting women and children in low-resource settings. She has experience in exposure assessment, risk communication, and translating environmental health evidence into actionable interventions. She also serves as Adjunct Faculty at Uppsala University, Sweden, where she teaches Children’s Environmental Health. As an R2A Fellow, she is contributing to the development of a tailored lead prevention communication toolkit designed to improve awareness and motivate protective behaviors among high-risk communities in Indiana. Outside of her professional work, she enjoys travelling, music, spending time with cats, and exploring diverse cuisines.

R2A Fellowship Project: Improved Lead Messaging – Part II, Developing a tailored communication toolkit to improve lead exposure prevention messaging for high-risk communities in Indiana, in collaboration with Indiana University.

Sonia Collado-López is a postdoctoral researcher at the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico. She holds a Master of Science in Nutrition and a PhD in Population Nutrition Sciences. Her research focuses on dietary exposure to heavy metals—particularly lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury—during pregnancy and early childhood, and their effects on child health. She also studies health risk assessment related to the preparation and consumption of foods cooked using different types of cookware. She is especially interested in the analysis of environmental health inequities that impact child health.

R2A fellowship project: Wee Warriors and PRoTECT Social Media Campaigns. Project partner: Little Things Matter.