Episode #29: Dr. Lori Hoepner talks about environmental polluters, health, and socioeconomic factors

Dr. Lori Hoepner received her DrPH in Environmental Health Sciences from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health (2015), her MPH in Maternal and Child Health from Tulane University School of Public Health (1995), and her BA in Biology from Barnard College (1994). With over 50 co-authored publications, her research is primarily at the intersection of environmental effects and prenatal/early childhood development. In 2015, Dr. Hoepner received Columbia University’s I. Bernard Weinstein Award for Academic Excellence in Environmental Health Sciences for the DrPH. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the ubiquitous plasticizer bisphenol A (BPA): both its effects on a) adipogenesis in human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells in a laboratory setting and b) childhood obesity in an urban minority birth cohort using a molecular epidemiological study design. She has extensive research experience in exposures including BPA, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalates, and pesticides, as well as the outcomes of asthma, neurodevelopment, and obesity. Her research efforts have included studies of the World Trade Center tragedy and HIV/AIDS behavioral research. In addition, Dr. Hoepner has over 20 years of organizational and analytical data management expertise involving complex health assessment and public health research datasets. With her background in health disparities research, Dr. Hoepner has the goal of understanding the intricacies of race/ethnicity, sex, and socioeconomics as they pertain to environmental health from a global perspective, as well as from a community-wide perspective.