Dr. Beate Ritz, professor of epidemiology and environmental health sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, has received the Kenneth Rothman Career Accomplishment Award from the Society for Epidemiologic Research.
She is being honored for her work as a teacher and researcher applying epidemiologic methods to studies of occupational and environmental exposures, chronic diseases tied to adverse birth outcomes and neurodevelopment, as well as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. Her research aims to encourage public health action to improve the health of communities and provide knowledge for government agencies’ regulatory efforts.
Ritz, who earned a master’s and doctorate in epidemiology from the Fielding School, is widely recognized for her research on the impact of poor air quality on health, including links between ozone exposure and Type 2 diabetes, lead exposure and Parkinson’s disease, childhood brain tumors and pesticide exposure, and jet aircraft exhaust’s connections to preterm births.
She has served on Environmental Protection Agency, National Academy of Sciences and California state scientific advisory boards and is a past president of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology. Ritz is a faculty affiliate at the UCLA Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, Bixby Center on Population and Reproductive Health, and UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity.