SILENT SPRING INSTITUTE - Key Persons
Aaron Maruzzo joined Silent Spring Institute as a Research Associate in 2022. He combines his background in public health, environmental science, and epidemiology to address how chemical exposures influence the health of individuals and communities-especially overlooked communities, communities of color, and low-income communities. Aaron has worked on the science and policy sides of emerging contaminants like PFAS in drinking water and consumer products. He is passionate about addressing toxic exposures, translating science into action, and advancing environmental justice.
He holds a BA in Biology and Comparative Literature from Williams College and an MPH in Environmental Health Sciences from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. Prior to Berkeley, Aaron was the Water Lab Analyst for the municipal water company in the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. territory in the Western Pacific where Aaron is originally from. He analyzed the water quality of the islands of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota and cultivated community outreach opportunities.
During his graduate program, Aaron worked with the Safer Consumer Products Program, Guam EPA, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and the Water and Environmental Research Institute to address hazardous chemicals. His capstone project was a cumulative risk assessment, which characterized human health risks associated with environmental contaminant mixtures in Saipan's drinking water. He was awarded the Switzer Fellowship in 2021.
Dr. Agnes Kane received her MD and PhD degrees from Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, PA. She is board-certified in anatomic pathology and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has served on working groups for the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization and was a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science Advisory Board.
Her research on asbestos fiber toxicity and nanotechnology was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Superfund Research Program, and the American Cancer Society. She served as Director of the Training Program in Environmental Pathology at Brown University and mentored 16 graduate and postdoctoral trainees who are currently employed in the pharmaceutical industry, academia, as well as at EPA, the National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. She joined the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Brown University in 1982 and became professor emerita in 2021.
Job Titles:
- Director of Communications
- Member of the Leadership Team
Alexandra Goho joined Silent Spring in September 2015 to oversee the organization's communications program, including developing a strategic plan to expand Silent Spring's audience and influence and to help communicate the Institute's impact on environmental health and prevention science.
Trained as a science journalist, Alexandra has more 20 years of experience writing about science and technology for the public. She has written for a variety of magazines, including MIT's Technology Review, Science News, and New Scientist. Prior to joining Silent Spring, she was a contributing writer for Cancer Today, a magazine aimed at cancer patients and advocates, and published by the American Association for Cancer Research. Her most memorable features include a profile of American astronaut Sally Ride and her life cut short by pancreatic cancer, as well as an interview with health economist and breast cancer survivor Felicia Knaul about global inequities in cancer care.
Alexandra has always had a passion for communicating science to the public, to translate complex scientific concepts in a way that is engaging and informative, and ultimately empowers audiences to participate in a broader discussion about how science impacts our lives. She is excited to share her passion with Silent Spring to help advance the organization's mission.
Alexandra holds a bachelor's degree in biology from McGill University and a master's in science journalism from Boston University. She is the mother of three teenagers, and enjoys movies, music, and long road trips with her family.
Anisha Patil Nakagawa is currently a Master's student in Urban Planning at MIT. Her work focuses on addressing extreme heat and climate justice using participatory action research and people-centered design. She formerly worked at Silent Spring as a designer and engineer on the institute's digital exposure report-back interface (DERBI) tools.
Anisha earned her Bachelor's degree from Olin College in Electrical and Computer Engineering, where she also studied people-centered design in the context of designing with groups who have been historically excluded. She has professional experience with information design, focusing on how to make data and information easy to understand for a broad audience. She also has experience in climate organizing and activism, which brings a lens of equity and community-based organizing to her approach to public health.
Job Titles:
- Director of Administration
- Member of the Leadership Team
Since joining Silent Spring Institute in 2000, Anna Claeys has supported its administrative and scientific staff. Currently, she provides human resources support and is the office's information technology coordinator.
Claeys joined Silent Spring Institute because of her concern for the link between environmental pollutants and human health and her hope that knowledge about this link will lead to a cleaner environment. She graduated magna cum laude from Humboldt State University with a BA in religious studies and also earned a BFA in ceramics from MassArt where she graduated with distinction and departmental honors.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Psychiatrist
Cathie Ragovin is a psychiatrist in private practice in Weston, Massachusetts. She a co-founder of Silent Spring Institute and has served on a variety of committees for various organizations, including the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program, the California Breast Cancer Research Program, the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Research Program, The National Action Plan on Breast Cancer, and the National Breast Cancer Coalition.
Job Titles:
- Cape Cod Coordinator
- Cape Coordinator
Osimo is an active member of several community-based health advocacy organizations, including the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition, for which she serves as the coordinator of events and community outreach, and the Breast Cancer Advisory Committee for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
Osimo's community outreach to Cape residents has been honored by a number of civic and community groups and institutions, including Boston University, the Massachusetts Federation of Business and Professional Women, the National Women's Health Network, and the State Senate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She has received the Arthur H. Wilde Award for Distinguished Service to Community, an Official Citation in Recognition for being named Woman of the Year and for Commitment to Women's Health, and the Community Service Award-Local Community. In 2009 she was appointed to a two-year term on the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women, an independent state agency to advance women's equality statewide. In addition, Osimo was selected to participate as a presenter and mentor for first-time advocate reviewers participating in the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program. She earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education at Boston University.
As Cape coordinator, Cheryl Osimo organizes Silent Spring Institute's education and outreach efforts, including conducting information sessions for Cape residents and organizations, convening public advisory committee meetings and other public forums, serving as liaison to media and local officials, and organizing programs and activities that support the Institute's research agenda.
Job Titles:
- Clerk
- Member of the Board
- Coach at Brandeis University
Cindy Shulak-Rome currently works as a teacher educator/coach at Brandeis University. She has provided coaching and mentorship for both novice teachers and master teachers in the graduate Department of Education for the past ten years. Prior to this she was a founding member and president of Congregation Dorshei Tzedek in Newton, MA as well as a founding member and director of the congregation's school. She has served on boards of several organizations, including the national boards and executive committees of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, the League of Women Voters, the Institute of Jewish Spirituality and Hand in Hand Schools. Cindy's early professional experience was in medical speech pathology and rehabilitation. She received a master's degree in Education and Speech-Language Pathology from University of California Santa Barbara and did her undergraduate work at University of Michigan.
Cynthia McKeown is an award-winning filmmaker whose first feature documentary, "One in Eight: Janice's Journey," follows one young woman's journey through breast cancer and her search to understand the causes of the growing incidence of cancer in her native Long Island, NY community. "Janice's Journey" was broadcast internationally on The Discovery Channel and won top honors at several film festivals.
McKeown is a former producer/director at WGBH television and was associate director of digital communications at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, where she managed the first-ever Forum on Cancer and the Environment to help cancer clinicians and researchers gain a broader understanding of the role of chemicals in the development of cancer.
Her most recent documentary, "Unacceptable Risk: Dr. Margaret Kripke on Cancer and the Environment" tells the story of a prominent cancer researcher who rethinks her assumptions about the causes of cancer and the influence of toxic chemicals in our everyday environment. Released in 2021, "Unacceptable Risk" has had virtual and in-person screenings and was selected for screening by the 2022 World Cancer Congress cinema program and the 2021 American Public Health Association annual conference.
Job Titles:
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Dr. Alina McIntyre joined Silent Spring Institute and Northeastern University's Social Science and Environmental Health Research Institute as a NIH T32 postdoctoral research fellow in August 2024. She collaborates on three projects: 1) The PFAS HOME study, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2) Reporting Individual Exposure Results: Expanding effective report-back of environmental exposures among new researchers and clinic-based studies, funded by the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences, and 3) Women Exposures at Work: Occupational and other Systemic Risk Factors for Breast Cancer Among Immigrant Women, funded by the California Breast Cancer Research Program.
Dr. McIntyre completed her PhD in Environmental Health with concentrations in exposure assessment, environmental epidemiology, and biostatistics at Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH). Her dissertation research included working with the Chelsea and East Boston Heat Study (C-HEAT), a collaborative project between the Chelsea-based environmental justice organization GreenRoots, Inc. and BUSPH. She conducted local extreme heat and air pollution exposure research using qualitative methods, exposure assessment, and geospatial mapping tools. Dr. McIntyre also brings specific expertise in mixed-methods, community-engaged research approaches. One of the most meaningful parts of her graduate degree included working alongside GreenRoots and connecting with Chelsea community members. She aims to continue to build and sustain local partnerships throughout her career.
Dr. McIntyre holds a MHS in Environmental Health and Engineering from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a BA in both Community Heath and Spanish from Tufts University.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Director
- Member of the Leadership Team
As Deputy Director, Dr. Amy Dale supports the Executive Director to implement Silent Spring's Strategic Plan and the vision of the Board of Directors, coordinate priorities across the Institute, and create and lead organizational systems to support growth. She contributes to the overall planning and policymaking for the Institute and ensures that systems are in place to support Silent Spring's research, administration and finance, communications, and development programs. Additionally, Dr. Dale works to support and enhance the spirited, innovative, and collegial culture among staff.
Prior to joining Silent Spring in April 2023, Dr. Dale was a Senior Project Manager at the environmental consulting firm Gradient, where she managed and/or provided technical expertise for over fifty projects focused primarily on the assessment and remediation of contaminated sites and the restoration and protection of public waterways. Dr. Dale received a joint PhD in Engineering & Public Policy and Civil & Environmental Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. As a PhD student, she synthesized across scientific fields to enhance understanding of the environmental fate of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles, a common ingredient in many consumer products. She also spent a summer with the Chesapeake Bay Program Office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Annapolis, Maryland, where she observed the use of water quality models to inform real-world decision-making for watershed and estuary management.
After receiving her PhD, Dr. Dale studied with world-renowned atmospheric scientist Dr. Susan Solomon as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at MIT. Her postdoctoral research focused on the potential impacts of climate change on food and water security across the African continent.
Dr. Dale is a former EPA STAR (Science to Achieve Results) Graduate Research Fellow, a former ARCS (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists) scholar, and a 2010 National Udall Scholar. Her peer-reviewed scientific publications include a widely-cited Feature article in Environmental Science & Technology on the environmental fate of engineered nanoparticles.
Dr. Dale serves on the Advisory Board for the Stone Living Lab, a research partnership focused on developing innovative solutions to increasing the resilience of coastal communities to climate change. In her spare time, she enjoys painting with watercolors, writing fiction, and exploring New England with her husband and her two daughters.
Dr. Beth Whelan is retired from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where she was a senior research epidemiologist at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Cincinnati, OH. She spent the last decade overseeing a multi-million-dollar research program focused on occupational and environmental hazards to reproductive health, occupational exposure assessment, and risk factors for chronic diseases including cancer. Dr. Whelan served for many years as the CDC/NIOSH representative to the National Toxicology Program and was co-chair of the NIOSH Disaster Science Responder Research program.
Dr. Whelan received her PhD in epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service. She is a graduate of Leadership CincinnatiUSA®, and she also serves on the board of CliftonDeer.Org, a non-profit organization promoting humane methods of wildlife management in urban settings.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Postdoctoral Research Associate
Dr. Elissia Franklin joined Silent Spring Institute in 2021. She comes to Silent Spring with expertise in mass spectrometry-based analysis of biomolecules, which she is applying to the Institute's biomonitoring studies and investigations of the human exposome, the spectrum of environmental exposures that an individual experiences over their lifetime and how they relate to health. Dr. Franklin's research focuses on evaluating chemical exposure injustice among women based on race, education, and other demographics. Her work is helping to advance the Institute's intervention studies, exposure evaluations, and epidemiological and community-based research.
She earned her PhD in Analytical Chemistry from Purdue University under the mentorship of Professors Yu Xia and Scott McLuckey. As a graduate research assistant, she combined radical chemistry with gas-phase analysis to probe biomolecules. Her thesis titled "Incorporation of the Paternò-Büchi reaction into mass spectrometry-based systems for lipid structural characterization" explores the utilization of in-solution modification with gas-phase ion chemistry for lipid elucidation. This work has potential application to detect biomarkers for diseases such as type II diabetes.
Dr. Franklin studied at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China as a Visiting Senior Research Scholar in the Department of Chemistry, where she developed a method to probe lipid carbon-carbon double bonds in tandem with liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry for online structural elucidation of complex lipid species. She finished a postdoc at Purdue developing gas-phase methods for the characterization of lipids.
She received a BS in Chemistry, graduating with honors, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As an undergraduate, she worked as a research assistant in Professor Steven Zimmerman's lab where she studied drug discovery for myotonic dystrophy type I, an inherited form of muscular dystrophy that may cause weakening muscles and challenges with other body systems.
Dr. Franklin also has a strong interest in research translation and using her scientific training to address issues faced by Black womxn. One way she does this is through her podcast, The Research Her. In the show, she highlights research that is related to improving the lives of communities traditionally neglected in science communication while elevating marginalized voices in science. During her free time, she creates digital communities, advocates for the pursuit of STEM careers, and debunks the image of STEM professionals.
Job Titles:
- Research Scientist
- Research Scientist, Environmental Policy and Community - Engaged Research
Dr. Jennie Liss Ohayon is a Research Scientist at Silent Spring Institute, specializing in environmental policy, community-engaged research, and environmental justice. She is currently working on projects to report back to study participants and community partners in the U.S. and Chile their exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals. She also researches the emergence of scientific and activist concerns around industrial chemicals with Northeastern's PFAS lab, and, in collaboration with co-investigators at the University of California, Berkeley, is evaluating the effectiveness of California-based legislation that aims to reduce or eliminate exposures to toxic substances. With the support of the Massachusetts Toxic Use Reduction Institute, she recently partnered with high schools across the state to translate environmental health research into hands-on curriculum that helps students reduce toxic exposures. She works with the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative, a network formed to address threats to federal environmental policy and data, to track changes to EPA's structure and science production.
Dr. Ohayon completed her PhD at the University of California, Santa Cruz researching the remediation of toxic waste in military Superfund sites. With research support from the EPA's Science to Achieve Results fellowship and the National Science Foundation, she did fieldwork to evaluate how policy around public participation and environmental justice is translated into cleanup programs. She also used data from all military Superfund sites for quantitative and spatial analyses of how factors such as the race and class demographics of surrounding neighborhoods contribute to how quickly sites are remediated. During this time, she created an interactive curriculum in environmental sciences for high school students that are disproportionately affected by environmental problems and who come from communities that are underrepresented in the field of environmental science.
Prior to beginning her PhD, Dr. Ohayon worked in two conservation biology laboratories and led education and recreation programs for children in low-income housing. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Toronto, with majors in biology and political science. In her free time, she enjoys traveling (she's explored six continents) and various food-related pursuits-gardening, canning, and of course eating delicious vegetarian food!
Job Titles:
- Research Scientist
- Research Scientist, Toxicology and Carcinogenicity
Dr. Jenny Kay is a Research Scientist whose work focuses on the toxicology and carcinogenicity of environmental exposures. She comes to Silent Spring with expertise in DNA damage and mechanisms of mutagenesis, which she is applying to the Institute's work on chemically-induced breast carcinogenesis. Using experimental approaches, analysis of publicly-available data, and literature review, Dr. Kay is investigating the biological effects of chemicals that increase breast cancer risk, focusing especially on DNA damage and repair, inflammation and hormonal stimulation, and the interactions between these mechanisms that lead to breast cancer. Her goal is to develop approaches for classifying chemicals based on their potential to increase breast cancer risk.
Dr. Kay received her PhD in Biological Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she also completed a postdoctoral fellowship under the guidance of Dr. Bevin Engelward. For her graduate work, Dr. Kay utilized a novel transgenic mouse model to explore the mechanistic relationships between inflammation, DNA damage, mutations, and cancer using the intestines as a model organ.
As a postdoctoral fellow, she helped found the MIT Superfund Research Program (MIT SRP), a transdisciplinary center with a specific emphasis on investigating N-nitrosodimethylamine, an environmental contaminant and probable human carcinogen. She led animal-based research projects at MIT SRP, studying DNA repair gene-environment interactions to identify genetic susceptibility factors. Her collaborative research integrated key biological endpoints over time to map the progression from exposure to toxicity and cancer in mice. Her work has garnered international attention, as N-nitrosamines have recently come under scrutiny for contaminating pharmaceuticals at high levels. Dr. Kay also led the MIT SRP Research Translation Core, serving as the communication hub between MIT SRP researchers and government agencies, community partners, other academics, and the general public.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director Emeritus
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Senior Scientist
- Expert
Dr. Julia Brody is a nationally recognized expert on environmental chemicals and breast cancer, as well as a leader in community-based research and public engagement in science. She joined Silent Spring as executive director in 1996, shortly after its founding. She led the organization for 28 years, transforming Silent Spring into a leading authority on environmental chemicals and women's health.
Dr. Brody's current research focuses on reporting back to people who participate in environmental health studies to inform them of their own chemical exposures. Her team developed the Digital Exposure Report-Back Interface (DERBI)-a web-based tool for making high-quality personalized reports practical in studies of any size, and is currently adapting the tool for smartphone-based reports. She is also studying what Americans know about endocrine disruptors-as part of the emerging field of environmental health literacy.
Her interest in returning exposure results grew out of Silent Spring Institute's Household Exposure Study, the first comprehensive assessment of exposure to endocrine disrupting compounds in homes. Results were the first to show that consumer products are a major source of people's exposure to these chemicals. The study later expanded from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to Richmond and Bolinas, California, in a project connecting breast cancer advocacy and environmental justice. The study was the first to discover high exposures to flame retardants in California, ultimately leading to revisions in the state's flammability standards, which had implications nationwide.
Dr. Brody led a critical review of epidemiologic studies published in the past ten years on breast cancer and environmental pollutants. The study was a follow-up to a landmark state-of-the-science report she led that was published in 2007 in the American Cancer Society's peer-reviewed journal, Cancer. The report included a review on animal mammary gland carcinogens, which provided a roadmap for studying these chemicals in humans. Brody was the principal investigator of the Cape Cod Breast Cancer and Environment Study, including a case-control study of 2,100 women. The study was the first to measure estrogenic chemicals in groundwater and in drinking water.
Brody's research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the California Breast Cancer Research Program, and the National Science Foundation. She is the co-PI of an NIH T32 training grant in collaboration with Northeastern University. Her research collaborators also include investigators at Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, and elsewhere.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognized Dr. Brody's research with an Environmental Merit Award in 2000. In 2002, she presented one of the Distinguished Lectures at the National Cancer Institute and spoke at the 2009 President's Cancer Panel where she highlighted the need to integrate biological evidence with human studies to prevent cancers. She has served on the National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council and is currently an advisor to the California Breast Cancer Research Program and breast cancer activist organizations.
Dr. Brody is a Research Associate in Epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health. She earned her PhD at the University of Texas at Austin and her AB at Harvard University.
Job Titles:
- Research Scientist, Data Science and Policy Analysis
Dr. Kristin Knox joined Silent Spring in June 2019 with a background in data science. Her work is focused on the quantitative analysis of exposure patterns and predictors, both to increase our understanding of the health risks associated with hazardous chemicals and to reduce exposures.
In recent work, Dr. Knox used her skills to assess the efficacy of California's landmark right-to-know law, Proposition 65. This included repurposing a dataset collected by the California Air Resources Board to regulate smog, using the data to instead evaluate the presence of volatile carcinogens and reproductive/developmental toxicants in consumer products. She also analyzed NHANES biomonitoring data from the CDC to evaluate the impact of Prop 65 on population-level toxic exposures, comparing California to the rest of the United States, as well as trends over time.
Currently, Dr. Knox is investigating occupational exposures to breast cancer-relevant chemicals, with a specific focus on immigrant women. She is part of a team that is using both targeted and non-targeted techniques to evaluate breast cancer-relevant occupational exposures faced by nurses, a project of the Women Workers Biomonitoring Collaborative.
Dr. Knox holds a PhD in Business Economics as well as master's and bachelor's degrees in Economics from Harvard University. Her doctoral research focused on the relationship between firms' corporate governance structures and the prices they pay for their bank loans. She has since used her data science skills in a variety of non-profit settings, mostly focused on the fields of education and public health. Dr. Knox served as Acting Director of Harvard's Office of Institutional Research. She also completed a study of maternal health outcomes in Haiti for Partners in Health.
In her spare time, Dr. Knox loves to cook and to travel with her family.
Job Titles:
- Senior Scientist
- Senior Scientist, Environmental Chemistry and Engineering
Dr. Laurel Schaider is a Senior Scientist at Silent Spring Institute, where she leads the Institute's water quality research on highly fluorinated chemicals (PFAS) and other contaminants of emerging concern. Her research focuses on characterizing PFAS exposures from drinking water, understanding health effects associated with PFAS, identifying other sources of PFAS exposure such as food packaging, investigating socioeconomic disparities in exposures to drinking water contaminants, and working with communities to develop research studies and resources to address their concerns.
Job Titles:
- Board Member and Chair of Leadership Council
- Professor Emeritus and Founding Chair of the Department of Immunology
Dr. Margaret Kripke is a professor emeritus and founding chair of the Department of Immunology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where she also served as executive vice-president and chief academic officer. Dr. Kripke, who earned a PhD in immunology from the University of California, Berkeley, is a leading expert in the immunology of skin cancers. After her retirement in 2007, MD Anderson established the Margaret Kripke Legends Award, in honor of her work, to be awarded annually to individuals whose support and dedication have enhanced the careers of women in cancer medicine and cancer science. In 2012 she was selected as chief scientific officer for The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, where she oversaw the awarding of more than $500 million in research grants before retiring in 2015. Dr. Kripke served multiple terms on the three-person President's Cancer Panel which oversees the development and implementation of the National Cancer Program. She served on the panel that produced the path-breaking 2009 report, "Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now," which alerted the nation to the enormous potential for reducing the nation's cancer burden by preventing environmental cancers.
Job Titles:
- Postdoctoral Research Associate
Emily Chandler joined Silent Spring Institute in July 2022. She provides full life-cycle support of sponsored research, including proposals, budgets, subcontracts, compliance, and reporting on federal, state, private, and foundation grants.
Emily holds a Master's degree from Boston University's Center for Energy and Environmental Studies. She was the founding executive director of the Louisville Sustainability Council, an environmental nonprofit organization in Louisville, Kentucky. She previously worked as a project manager at Boston University's Framingham Heart Study and in research administration at the University of Massachusetts School of Public Health and Health Sciences.
Emily has found that her strong analytical, administrative, and organizational skills translate well into helping people and the planet through grant management. Emily loves being a mother to her two children and walking her dog in the woods.
Emily Heckel joined Silent Spring Institute in July 2022. She is the study coordinator for the Massachusetts PFAS and Your Health Study, a CDC-funded multi-site study that is investigating the relationship between PFAS contaminants in drinking water and their effects on human health.
Prior to joining Silent Spring, Emily worked as a study coordinator at the Marcus Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew Seniorlife, where she managed the overall coordination and execution of an NIH-funded study on age-related muscle loss in collaboration with the Framingham Heart Study. She also worked as a research project coordinator at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health for an interdisciplinary study examining the effects of positive and negative emotions on tobacco use. In this position, she contributed to a qualitative research study looking at local Massachusetts towns' responses to the opioid crisis.
Emily has an MPH in Global Environmental Sustainability and Health and a certificate in Risk Sciences and Public Policy from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Philosophy from Macalester College.
In her free time, Emily enjoys rock climbing, cooking, and spending time with friends and family.
Emma Ryan joined Silent Spring Institute as a Research Associate in November 2023. Passionate about finding solutions to promote environmental health equity, she currently supports Silent Spring's research on PFAS-contaminated drinking water and home-based PFAS exposures, as well as the impacts of PFAS on communities. Before joining Silent Spring, Emma worked as a Senior Research Assistant and Special Projects Manager at the Tufts School of Public Health researching family-based interventions to prevent early adolescent substance use.
Emma received a BA in Environmental Studies from Yale College and an MPH in Environmental Health Sciences from Yale School of Public Health. Her undergraduate research focused on community involvement in New Haven's climate planning process and her master's research examined health professional students' understanding of the intersections of healthcare, environmental pollution, and the climate crisis. After completing her MPH, Emma worked on a study investigating the relationship between water quality and proximity to hydraulic fracturing sites in Pennsylvania.
Outside of work, Emma spends her time traveling and enjoying the outdoors with friends and family, volunteering with a tutoring program, reading books from the library, and knitting.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Software Engineer
Erik Haugsjaa has been developing web applications since the web's first graphical browser (NCSA Mosaic) arrived in 1993. He is a "full-stack" software engineer and loves working on projects from requirements gathering and system architecture, all the way to release and ongoing maintenance. He has created secure and mobile-friendly websites and databases for a wide-range of businesses and nonprofits to help them manage their unique business workflows and their user-friendly public websites.
In a former life, Erik studied electrical and computer engineering (BS 1992, MS 1994) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and once worked on a programming project simulating Rocky Mountain forest fires for the U.S. Forest Service. He also studied artificial intelligence in a computer science PhD program before realizing that his true love is software engineering, and helping people use the World Wide Web to enhance learning and self-education.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Treasurer
- Senior Director of the Global Modeling & Informatics Group at Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc
Georgia is the Senior Director of the global Modeling & Informatics group at Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., comprised of molecular modeling, informatics and methods development. She is also a member of the Research Leadership Team, which sets the strategy for the research arm of the company. Through her twenty-year career in pharmaceuticals (Wyeth, Merck, Vertex) Georgia has contributed to the invention and advancement of several clinical candidates and generated more than 100 publications and presentations. She has served on the editorial advisory board for numerous journals (including the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry and F1000), many conferences (such as the Computer Aided Drug Design Gordon Research Conference), and participated in multiple study sections for the NIH. Currently, she volunteers in the Boston scientific community through mentorship with high school and college students. Georgia earned her B.S. degree in chemistry from Kennesaw State College and her Ph.D in physical chemistry from the University of Georgia. She carried out her post-doctoral studies with focus on electronic structure theory at Colorado State University. She is also an avid runner and plays the piano.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Software Engineer
Jamie Berrier joined Silent Spring Institute as a software engineer in 2021. She works on the institute's Digital Exposure Report-Back Interface (DERBI), an interactive web-based tool for sharing personal exposure results with participants in environmental health studies.
Jamie graduated with honors from Arizona State University with a bachelor's degree in Computer Information Systems. While working in the finance industry, she found herself wanting to apply technology to creatively solve problems and make a positive impact on the world through code. She completed Flatiron School's Software Engineering program with the Women Take Tech Scholarship, focusing on full stack development. As the daughter of a breast cancer survivor, she was inspired to apply her programming skills to support Silent Spring's mission.
Jamie lives in San Diego, CA and enjoys camping, mountain biking, and playing at the beach with her husband, daughter, and dog. On the weekends, you'll often see her by the side of a trail watching her husband compete in a mountain bike race or in the audience cheering her daughter on at a dance competition. In her spare time, Jamie volunteers as a youth cheerleading coach and choreographer.
Jeanne Mockard is a Private Investment Manager. Previously she was a Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager at Putnam Investments where she was the Lead Manager for The George Putnam Fund of Boston, a $4.2B balanced fund. She is a C.F.A. charterholder and has 23 years of investment experience. Mockard also serves on the endowment committee for The Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore, Maryland.
Jillian McEneaney joined Silent Spring Institute as a Research Associate in 2024. She supports Silent Spring's Safer Chemicals Program, where she is applying her interests in the mechanisms of endocrine disruption to the Institute's research on chemically induced breast carcinogenesis. Working in collaboration with Dr. Jennifer Kay, she is investigating the biological implications of chemical exposures on mutagenesis and endocrine pathways.
Jillian received her BA from Harvard College where she concentrated in human evolutionary biology, focusing on human health and behavior. Her undergraduate research aimed to understand how selection for behavior changed the morphology of cerebellums in foxes. She is broadly interested in the relationship between hormones, behavior, and health and has previously worked in psychiatry research at Boston Children's Hospital and in drug delivery research at a small startup.
In her spare time, Jillian enjoys volunteering with YES Kids Track and Cross Country programs, hiking in the White Mountains, and being outdoors.
Job Titles:
- Development and Events Associate
Julia Fink joined Silent Spring Institute in August 2024 as Development and Events Associate. Her role includes supporting the planning and execution of small and large events for the Institute's supporter community. She works alongside Silent Spring's Director of Development, Rachel d'Oronzio Sarvey, and Assistant Director of Development, Quinn Fey, to fundraise for science that protects women's health.
Before joining the team at Silent Spring, Julia brought impactful events to life at Girl Scouts of Ohio's Heartland, empowering girls through hands-on learning programs. Additionally, Julia worked on several initiatives that aimed to build the next generation of female leaders in STEM careers. She is honored to be working alongside powerful women with a common mission to make the world a healthier and safer place to live.
Outside of Silent Spring, Julia likes to go bird watching, watch live theater, and read a good book. She also enjoys spending time with her fiancé and their many plants.
Julia Udesky is a staff scientist with a background in epidemiology. She is currently working on a study of asthma and indoor environmental air quality in public housing, as well as a project addressing issues related to the balance between privacy protection and data utility when data are shared online in studies of environmental exposures.
Julia graduated from the Harvard School of Public Health with a Masters in Epidemiology. She concentrated her studies in cancer epidemiology and completed a master's thesis examining the immunomodulatory actions of vitamin D in prostate cancer. Julia's passion for cancer epidemiology and prevention grew out of the five years she spent volunteering at a cancer hospital in New York. While at HSPH, she volunteered as a math tutor at a local elementary school.
Julia previously worked as a research coordinator in the Endocrinology Division at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. She received a BA in Psychology from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Research Associate
Katherine Franz joined Silent Spring Institute as a Research Associate in 2023. She currently focuses on "report-back"- the practice of sharing individual study results with participants- as a tool to improve researcher-participant relations, strengthen ethics of community-engaged research, and promote environmental health literacy. She also responds to public inquiries about Silent Spring's research.
Katherine received a BS in Environmental Sciences and Anthropology from the University of Notre Dame, where her studies centered on human behavior and ecological systems. As an undergraduate, Katherine worked with the Pulte Institute to investigate the impact of water sanitation infrastructure on public health as part of Project Ricardo, an initiative focused on improving access to clean water in Arcabuco, Colombia. She also analyzed nutrient concentrations of freshwater lake samples as a research assistant in the Jones aquatic ecology lab, and spent a summer at the University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center investigating the territorial calling behavior of green frogs.
In addition to research, she has spent time volunteering as a tutor at a local community center and getting involved in curatorial projects at the University of Notre Dame's Snite Museum of Art and the Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis, Missouri. She feels most at home in spaces that pair academic inquiry with public accessibility, and is grateful to be working for an organization that values both.
Prior to Silent Spring, Katherine served as an Outreach Coordinator at a small history museum through Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest / AmeriCorps and briefly work-traded on an organic vegetable and flower farm. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring the outdoors and experimenting with various arts and crafts.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Research Scientist, Environmental Health Communications and Environmental Health Science
Katie Boronow joined Silent Spring Institute in 2015. She develops personal results reports for participants in exposure biomonitoring studies using DERBI, the Digital Exposure Report-Back Interface. Katie studies what people know about endocrine disrupting and cancer causing chemicals and how personal exposure reports can build environmental health literacy about these chemicals. She also researches how people's behavior can influence their exposures to consumer product chemicals.
Katie holds a master's degree from Harvard University in organismic and evolutionary biology and a bachelor's from Yale University in biology. Her academic interests centered on the physiological and behavioral responses of lizards to environmental stressors, such as novel predators and climatic gradients, which she pursued through extensive fieldwork. Prior to graduate school, Katie worked at Eastern Research Group as an environmental scientist where she researched worker exposure to silica and diacetyl and assisted with community health investigations into potential exposure to toxic chemicals.
Laura joined Silent Spring as an administrative assistant in August 2016. She provides general administrative support to the staff and assists with various staff projects.
Laura graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2014 with a B.A. in Communication. She focused on digital and media studies with the goal of using that knowledge to help educate more people about environmental issues. During her time at UMass Amherst, she volunteered with student groups working on social justice issues and she organized with the UMass Amherst Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign to encourage the university to divest its endowment from the fossil fuel industry. Laura also interned for Sustainable UMass, where she helped raise awareness about environmental initiatives on campus, such as their campaign to install solar-powered picnic tables.
Laura loves working at Silent Spring because the mission of the organization strongly aligns with her own values. She admires the important work the institute does to help people and to create good in the world. In her free time, Laura enjoys volunteering for social justice organizations and travelling.
Job Titles:
- Director Emeritus
- Senior Research Associate at the Center for Youth
Lawrence Bailis is a senior research associate at the Center for Youth and Communities and an associate professor at the Heller School of Brandeis University. In recent years, he has served as principal investigator or co-principal investigator of more than a dozen evaluations in a range of youth development, education, and workforce-development-related fields. In 2005, Bailis was selected as the John Glenn Scholar in Service-Learning at Ohio State University. He also serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Service Alliance, Clerk of the Board of the Waltham Partnership for Youth, and board member of Bend the Arc (formerly Jewish Funds for Justice) and JOIN for Justice.
Lisa Goodwin Robbins is an architect, with a focus on sustainable design and building technology. She works to educate other architects and designers on how and why to avoid toxic chemicals in our built environment. She specializes in incorporating green and healthier materials into specifications for buildings and is active in architecture, construction, and sustainability networks.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Member of the Leadership Team
Dr. Mary Beth Terry is an internationally renowned cancer epidemiologist with more than 25 years of experience leading studies on breast cancer risk factors, specifically the role of genetics, epigenetics, and other biomarkers in modifying the effects of environmental exposures on cancer risk and outcomes. She joined Silent Spring Institute as Executive Director in July 2024.
Dr. Terry's current research focuses on environmental exposures during key windows of susceptibility and among individuals, families, and communities with increased susceptibility to cancer. She and her colleagues developed the LEGACY Girls Study, the first study to examine the influence of early life exposures on breast development among girls with and without a family history. The study is part of the Breast Cancer Family Registry (BCFR)-an international cohort of more than 40,000 men and women of multi-generational families from the United States, Canada, and Australia. Dr. Terry has led other multi-generational studies of breast cancer risk through the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Program (BCERP), where she was introduced to Dr. Julia Brody.
Author of more than 450 scientific publications, her research has produced definitive data on the role of endocrine disrupting chemicals, including DDT and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and their lifelong and persistent effects on breast cancer risk by altering breast tissue composition and epigenetic changes. Dr. Terry employs novel phenotype assays and translates her work through the validation and enhancement of clinical risk models and improved clinical translation, which supports precision medicine and precision risk reduction initiatives.
Having lived and worked in areas profoundly affected by environmental injustice (which exacerbates long standing health inequities), Dr. Terry recognizes that environmental research that produces evidence that can change policies is essential to improving public health. Her current work focuses on direct community translation through household interventions and data needed to support local and state policies. As former director of the Community Outreach and Engagement Office at the Columbia University Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, she established extensive impactful and collaborative networks around the New York City region to reduce health disparities in chronic diseases. Through these collaborative networks, Dr. Terry co-leads the Environmental Carcinogens and Climate Health Action Team and the Community Engagement Working Group.
Dr. Terry has served on numerous prestigious committees, most recently on the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Pathways to Prevention panel on maternal mortality. She has served as an invited speaker and member of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's workshops on environmental exposures (2017) and on cancer prevention (2022). She recently completed a multi-year position on the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Board of Scientific Counselors and a decade-long service as an invited member of NCI's Physician Data Query (PDQ) Genetics Board for Breast and Gynecological Cancers. She recently transitioned from this position to an invited member of the overall PDQ Cancer Genetics Advisory Board for all cancers. From 2022 to 2023, she served as an invited member of the International Agency for Research on Cancer's (IARC) Monographs and Handbook Working Group on Alcohol Reduction and Cancer Risk.
Dr. Terry became interested in the environmental causes of breast cancer as a doctoral student. She had the opportunity to work on the Long Island Breast Cancer Study Project in the 1990s. Her early studies included an investigation of the relationship between prenatal exposures and breast tissue density. This work was conducted in collaboration with the National Collaborative Perinatal Project and the California Health and Development Studies, which recruited mothers and babies in the 1950s. Her studies produced some of the first evidence that exposures in the womb affect breast tissue density, a marker of breast cancer risk.
Dr. Terry is a Professor of Epidemiology in Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Associate Director of Population Science at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. She earned her PhD in epidemiology from Columbia University and a master's degree in economics from the University of Washington. Prior to receiving her doctorate, she worked as an econometrician evaluating different governmental programs.
Marybeth Hans, MS, PA-C is a physician assistant with over 30 years of experience caring for women with breast disease. She received her Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies from Rutgers University/University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. She holds additional certifications in breast ultrasound and cancer risk assessment and has a particular interest in women at increased risk for the development of breast cancer with a focus on individualized breast screening and risk reduction strategies. She is the Clinical Director of the B-PREP (Breast Cancer Personalized Risk Assessment, Education, Prevention) Program at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Vice President in Equity at Eaton Vance Management
Prachi Samudra is a Vice President in Equity at Eaton Vance Management. She has over 20 years of diverse experience in the financials industry. She researches and invests in financial institutions, with a focus on environmental, social, and governance factors. Prior to that, Prachi led large scale complex programs at fortune 500s. She received her MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and her Bachelors in Engineering from India. Prachi also serves as treasurer on the board at Peirce Elementary School in Newton, MA.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Development
Quinn Fey joined Silent Spring Institute in March 2023. As Assistant Director of Development, Quinn works alongside Silent Spring's Director of Development, Rachel D'Oronzio Sarvey, and in partnership with the Institute's dedicated supporter community, to fundraise for science that safeguards the spaces in which we live, work, and play. She feels privileged to work hand-in-hand with Silent Spring's Rachel Carson Society and is thrilled to connect with donors who champion Carson's legacies of conservation and courage.
Prior to Silent Spring, Quinn partnered with annual donors at the nation's oldest land trust, The Trustees, to support the protection of more than 120 sites across Massachusetts, ensuring they will be enjoyed by all in perpetuity. Community building, research, and communications have united her experiences as a middle-grade admissions officer at the Newman School, a graduate curatorial intern at MFA Boston, and the assistant to the directors of the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. She thrives at the intersection of culture, conservation, and education.
Quinn holds an MA in art history from Tufts University and a BA in international affairs from George Washington University. Now, diving deep into the science that links our environments with our health, she is energized by the opportunity to continue sharing stories that affect meaningful change.
Beyond Silent Spring, Quinn enjoys outdoor adventures, running, baking, reading, and lots of quality time with her husband and their two cats.
Job Titles:
- Director of Development
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Director of Development / Research Staff
Rachel d'Oronzio Sarvey joined Silent Spring Institute in June 2018 as the Director of Development. Her role is to establish and manage Silent Spring's major gift program, working with the Leadership Team, Board of Directors, Leadership Council and the many incredible behind-the-scenes staff and champions of Silent Spring. She is also responsible for all other development efforts including establishing annual goals and strategies, managing events and building the Innovation Fund to realize Silent Spring Institute's highest priorities over the next several years.
Rachel has over 20 years of experience in development from both the nonprofit and foundation perspectives, most recently managing foundation relations for a sports-based youth development program working with at-risk Boston Public School students. Prior to that, Rachel was a development consultant working with a large variety of nonprofits, helping them to frame their development and fundraising strategies and to write grant proposals to large and small foundations and to state programs. She thrives on connecting with people and organizations and helping them to reach their fundraising goals.
Rachel's out-of-work passions include supporting her two great kids as they form into amazing human beings, creating ceramics, cooking healthy meals topped off by decadent desserts and taking time to do the things that light her up such as spending time with her wife and friends, taking walks and smelling lilacs.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Associate Director of Research Operations, Research Scientist, Chemical Exposure and Risk Assessment
Job Titles:
- Director of Research
- Member of the Leadership Team
Job Titles:
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow / Administration & Outreach