Rachel Morello-Frosch

Associate Professor
PhD  School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley
B.S.   Development Studies    University of California, Berkeley

128B Giannini
Berkeley, California 94720
rmf@nature.berkeley.edu
office: 510-643-6358   lab: 510-643-6358   fax:  510-643-4361

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My research focuses on environmental health and environmental justice. I am particularly interested in addressing the double jeopardy faced by communities of color and the poor who experience high exposures to environmental hazards and who are more vulnerable to the toxic effects of pollution due to poverty, malnutrition, discrimination, and underlying health conditions. How do matters of race and class affect distributions of health risks in the United States? What are the causes and consequences of environmental disparities and health inequalities? How can research create "upstream" opportunities for intervention and prevention? I am also interested in evaluating the influence of community participation on environmental health research, science, regulation, and policy-making, as well as in developing methods to foster community-based participatory research.

This project develops scientifically valid and publicly transparent analytical methods to identify disparities in environmental hazard exposures and health status for key population groups identified by race/ethnicity, socio-economic status, and other vulnerability indicators to inform regulatory decision-making and environmental policy.

This project convenes advocates and researchers to assess the disparate impact of climate change on communities of color and the poor with a focus on the following issues: (1) health and economic impacts of extreme weather events; (2) environmental justice and social equity implications of proposed greenhouse gas reduction strategies in California associated with the AB32 Scoping Plan; and (3) disparities in community capacity to adapt to environmental impacts of climate change.

This community-academic collaboration combines economic and environmental health research, policy advocacy, and public education and organizing to improve environmental health in low-income communities of color in Southern California.

This project studies the relationship between adverse birth outcomes and traffic density in California and how individual and neighborhood-level measures of vulnerability may amplify the toxic impacts of pollution exposures.

This project examines issues of environmental justice through a study of household exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals linked to breast cancer in Richmond and Bolinas, California.

This project has several goals: (1) to examine from the perspective of environmental equity the impacts of industrial, commercial, and transportation land use on specific neighborhoods; (2) to develop indicators of the cumulative impact of exposures and the relative vulnerability of various communities that can be used in regulatory decision-making and enforcement; and (3) to address data needs identified in the Cal/EPA EJ Advisory Committee Recommendations Report.

This interdisciplinary project examines the resilience of the ecological and built environments in Gulf Coast communities, both urban and rural, that endure chronic wind and water damage from hurricanes.

Breast Cancer Action
Communities for a Better Environment
Environmental Leadership Program
Grist Magazine
Silent Spring Institute

Julia Brody & Ruthann Rudel
Phil Brown
Alastair Iles
Manuel Pastor
James Sadd
Tracey Woodruff

Morello-Frosch R, Zavestoski S, Brown P, McCormick S, Mayer B, Gasior R. "Social Movements in Health: Responses to and Shapers of a Changed Medical World." In The New Political Sociology of Science: Institutions, Networks, and Power. Kelly Moore and Scott Frickel, eds. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. (2006).

Morello-Frosch R, Pastor M, Sadd J, Porras C, Prichard M. "Citizens, Science, and Data Judo: Leveraging Community-based Participatory Research to Build a Regional Collaborative for Environmental Justice in Southern California." In Methods for Conducting Community-Based Participatory Research in Public Health. Barbara Israel, Eugenia Eng, Amy Shultz, Edith Parker, eds. University of Michigan, Jossey-Bass Press (2005)

Altman R, Morello-Frosch R, Brody J, Rudel R , Brown P, Averick M: "Pollution Comes Home and Gets Personal: Cape Cod Women's Experiences of Household Toxic Exposure." Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Forthcoming, December 2008.

Brody JG, Morello-Frosch R, Brown P, Rudel R, Altman R, Frye M, Osimo CC, Pérez C, Seryak L: "Is It Safe? -- New Ethics for Reporting Personal Exposures to Environmental Chemicals." American Journal of Public Health, 2007 97:1547–1554.

Morello-Frosch R and Lopez, R: "The Riskscape and the Colorline: Examining the Role of Segregation in Environmental Health Disparities," Environmental Research, 2006 102(2): 181-196.

Morello-Frosch R and Shenassa, E: "The Environmental 'Riskscape' and Social Inequality: Implications for Explaining Maternal and Child Health Disparities." Environmental Health Perspectives, 2006, 114 (8):1150-1153.

Morello-Frosch R and Jesdale, B: "Separate and Unequal: Residential Segregation and Air Quality in the Metropolitan U.S." Environmental Health Perspectives 2006, 113: 386-393.

Pastor M, Morello-Frosch, R, Sadd J: "Breathless: Air Quality, Schools, and Environmental Justice in California." Policy Studies Journal, 2006, 34 (3): 337-362.

Greene A, Morello-Frosch R, Shenassa E: "Inadequate Prenatal Care and Elevated Blood Lead Levels Among Children Born in Providence, Rhode Island: A Population-Based Study." Public Health Reports, 2006, 121: 729-736.