Frederica P. Perera, PhD, DrPH
Director, Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health
Director, Disease Investigation Through Specialized Clinically-Oriented Ventures in Environmental Research Center (DISCOVER)
Frederica P. Perera is Professor of Environmental Health Sciences and serves as director of the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health and for a NIH venture, the Disease Investigation Through Specialized Clinically-Oriented Ventures in Environmental Research Center (DISCOVER). Dr. Perera is internationally recognized for pioneering the field of molecular epidemiology, utilizing biomarkers to understand links between environmental exposures and disease. Currently, she and her colleagues are applying advanced molecular and imaging techniques within longitudinal cohort studies of pregnant women and their children, with the goal of identifying preventable environmental risk factors for developmental disorders, asthma, obesity and cancer in childhood.
Her recent research addresses the multiple impacts of the development of fossil fuel combustion on children’s health–both from toxic pollutants emitted and climate change related to CO2 emissions. She is the author of over 350 publications, including 300 peer-reviewed articles. Dr. Perera has received a number of awards, most recently the Heinz Award for the Environment by the Heinz Family Foundation in 2015 and the Jean and Leslie Douglas Pearl Award from The Cornell Douglas Foundation in 2014.
