Rachel Morello-Frosch

About

Rachel Morello-Frosch is an environmental health scientist and a Professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management and the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley. Her research focuses on social determinants of environmental health disparities, examining how inequality, psychosocial stress, and environmental chemical exposures interact to produce health inequalities among diverse communities. Much of her work addresses environmental justice issues in the context of climate change, ambient air pollution, chemical exposures, and their effects on fetal growth and developmental outcomes, often utilizing community-based participatory research methods. In collaboration with communities and scientists, Dr. Morello-Frosch has developed science-policy tools to assess the cumulative impacts of chemical and non-chemical stressors, aiming to improve regulatory decision-making and promote environmental justice. Her research is supported by various agencies including NIH, NSF, Cal-EPA, and private foundations. She is also a co-author of 'Contested Illness: Citizens, Science and Health Social Movements' and has made significant contributions to understanding environmental health disparities, environmental justice, and the impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations.

Selected publications

• Historical Redlining Is Associated with Present-Day Air Pollution Disparities in U.S. Cities

  Environmental Science & Technology Letters · 2022 · 425 citations

  are substantially larger by historical HOLC grade than they are by race and ethnicity. However, within each HOLC grade, racial and ethnic air pollution exposure disparities persist, indicating that redlining was only one of the many racially discriminatory policies that impacted communities. Our findings illustrate how redlining, a nearly 80-year-old racially discriminatory policy, continues to shape systemic environmental exposure disparities in the United States.

  DOI

• Redlines and Greenspace: The Relationship between Historical Redlining and 2010 Greenspace across the United States

  Environmental Health Perspectives · 2021-01-01 · 356 citations

  articleOpen access

  Introduction: Redlining, a racist mortgage appraisal practice of the 1930s, established and exacerbated racial residential segregation boundaries in the United States. Investment risk grades assigned >80y ago through security maps from the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) are associated with current sociodemographics and adverse health outcomes. We assessed whether historical HOLC investment grades are associated with 2010 greenspace, a health-promoting neighborhood resource. Objectives: We…

  PublisherDOI

• Wildfire-specific fine particulate matter and preterm birth: a US ECHO Cohort analysis

  The Lancet Planetary Health · 2025-11-05 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: exposure intensity, duration, and timing. METHODS: exposure with preterm birth (delivery before 37 weeks of gestation) were analysed by adjusted pooled logistic regression in the nationwide ECHO sample and in the US West census region. Associations between smoke days in gestational weeks 0-35 and preterm birth were evaluated by logistic regression in the national sample. FINDINGS: or greater. INTERPRETATION: exposure in the western USA, with findings suggesting an exposure-response r…

  PublisherDOI

• Sea level rise and flooding of hazardous sites in marginalized communities across the United States

  Nature Communications · 2025-11-20 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Sea level rise (SLR) increases the risk of flooding at coastal sites that use and produce hazardous substances. We assess whether socially marginalized populations in the United States are more likely to be impacted by projected SLR-related flooding of hazardous sites that could result in contaminant releases. We identify 5500 facilities at risk of a 1-in-100-year flood event by 2100 under a scenario of continued high greenhouse gas emissions, including coastal power plants, sewage treatment fac…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Advancing Methods and Models that Promote Equity in Ambient Air Quality

  Annual Review of Public Health · 2025-12-19 · 2 citations

  review

  Several groups in the United States, including communities of color and low-income communities, are frequently disproportionately exposed to ambient (i.e., outdoor) air pollution, reflecting unjust placement of emission sources, systemic bias, and historic race-based land use planning. Eliminating these inequities is critical for advancing environmental justice. This review synthesizes methodological innovations for characterizing and mitigating ambient air pollution inequities, focusing on the…

  PublisherDOI

Awards & honors

• Rachel Morello-Frosch elected to National Academy of Medicin…
• EHS Graduate Group Faculty Member Honored With Chancellor’s…
• Rachel Morello-Frosch joins White House Environmental Justic…

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