About Maria Harris

Maria Harris

Senior Scientist

Contact

San Francisco Office

Work

Areas of expertise:

Air quality, environmental epidemiology, exposure assessment, children's health, neurodevelopment

Maria is a Senior Scientist in the Office of the Chief Scientist, supporting the work of EDF’s Global Clean Air initiative to reduce disparities in air pollution exposure and health impacts. Maria leads research on air pollution exposure and associated health burdens.  One of her focuses at EDF is collaboration with community-based organizations and other partners to leverage air pollution research findings in support of health-protective policy changes.

Background

Prior to joining EDF, Maria was a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Environmental Research and Children’s Health (CERCH) at UC Berkeley, where her research examined the influence of early life environmental exposures on child health and development. Maria has published on the impacts of prenatal and childhood exposure to air pollution and perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs) on child brain development.

Education

Ph.D. in Environmental Heath from Boston University School of Public Health
S.M. in Environmental Health from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Sc.B. in Environmental Science from Brown University

Publications

Gohlke JM, Harris MH, Roy A, Thompson TM, DePaola M, Alvarez RA, Anenberg SC, Apte JS, Demetillo MAG, Dressel IM, Kerr GH, Marshall JD, Nowlan AE, Patterson RF, Pusede SE, Southerland VA, Vogel SA. State-of-the-Science Data and Methods Need to Guide Place-Based Efforts to Reduce Air Pollution Inequity. Environmental Health Perspectives. 2023; 131: 125003.

Kerr GH, Goldberg DL, Harris MH, Henderson BH, Hystad P, Roy A, Anenberg SC. Ethnoracial Disparities in Nitrogen Dioxide Pollution in the United States: Comparing Data Sets from Satellites, Models, and Monitors. Environmental Science & Technology. 2023; 57: 19532-19544.

LP Clark, MH Harris, JS Apte, JD Marshall. National and intraurban air pollution exposure disparity estimates in the United States: Impact of data-aggregation spatial scale. Environmental Science & Technology Letters. 2022; 9: 786-791.

TH Wai, JS Apte, MH Harris, TW Kirchstetter, CJ Portier, CV Preble, A Roy, A Szpiro. Insights from application of a hierarchical spatio-temporal model to an intensive urban black carbon monitoring dataset. Atmospheric Environment. 2022; 277: 119069.

Southerland VA, Anenberg SC, Harris M, Apte J, Hystad P, van Donkelaar A, Martin RV, Beyers M, Roy A. Assessing the distribution of air pollution health risks within cities: a neighborhood-scale analysis leveraging high resolution datasets in the Bay Area, California. Environmental Health Perspectives. 2021; 129: 37006.

Harris MH, Oken E, Rifas-Shiman SL, Calafat AM, Ye X, Bellinger DC, Webster TF, White RF, Sagiv SK. Prenatal and Childhood Exposure to Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and Child Executive Function and Behavior. Environmental Research. 2021; 202: 111621.

Harris MH, Oken E, Rifas-Shiman SL, Calafat AM, Ye X, Bellinger DC, Webster TF, White RF, Sagiv SK. Prenatal and Childhood Exposure to Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and Child Cognition. Environment International. 2018; 115:358-369.

Peng C, den Dekker M, Cardenas A, Rifas-Shiman SL, Gibson H, Agha G, Harris MH, Coull BA, Schwartz J, Litonjua AA, DeMeo DL, Hivert MF, Gilman MW, Sagiv SK, de Kluizenaar Y, Felix JF, Jaddoe VW, Oken E, Duijts L, Gold DR, Baccarelli AA. Residential Proximity to Major Roadways at Birth, DNA Methylation at Birth and Midchildhood, and Childhood Cognitive Test Scores: Project Viva (Massachusetts, USA). Environmental Health Perspectives. 2018; 126:97006.

Sagiv SK, Harris MH, Gunier RB, Kogut KR, Harley KG, Deardorff J, Bradman A, Holland N, Eskenazi B. Prenatal Organophosphate Pesticide Exposure and Traits Related to Autism Spectrum Disorders in a Population Living in Proximity to Agriculture. Environmental Health Perspectives. 2018; 126:047012.

Harris MH, Rifas-Shiman SL, Calafat AM, Ye X, Mora AM, Webster TF, Oken E, Sagiv SK. Predictors of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance (PFAS) Plasma Concentrations in 6-10 Year Old American Children. Environmental Science and Technology. 2017; 51:5193-5204.

Harris MH, Gold DR, Rifas-Shiman SL, Melly S, Zanobetti A, Coull BA, Schwartz J, Gryparis A, Kloog I, Koutrakis P, Bellinger DC, Belfort MB, Webster TF, White RF Sagiv SK, Oken E. Prenatal and Childhood Traffic-Related Air Pollution Exposure and Childhood Executive Function and Behavior. Neurotoxicology and Teratology. 2016; 57:60-70.

Harris MH, Gold DR, Rifas-Shiman SL, Melly S, Zanobetti A, Coull BA, Schwartz J, Gryparis A, Kloog I, Koutrakis P, Bellinger DC, White RF Sagiv SK, Oken E. Prenatal and Childhood Traffic-Related Pollution Exposure and Childhood Cognition in the Project Viva Cohort (Massachusetts, USA). Environmental Health Perspectives. 2015; 123:1072-8.

Sagiv SK, Rifas-Shiman SL, Webster TF, Mora AM, Harris MH, Calafat AM, Ye X, Gillman MW, Oken E. Sociodemographic and Perinatal Predictors of Early Pregnancy Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance (PFAS) Concentrations. Environmental Science and Technology. 2015; 49:11849-58.

Basu R, Harris M, Sie L, Malig B, Broadwin R, Green S. Effects of fine particulate matter and its constituents on low birth weight among full-term infants in California. Environmental Research. 2014; 128:42-51.

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