Miriam Rotkin-Ellman researches industrial air pollution, pesticides, and other toxic chemicals, as well as the links between public health and global warming. Since joining NRDC, she has studied the effects of the 2006 California heat wave, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. She has worked with California’s Climate Action Team’s Public Health Workgroup and has also served as an advisor to the California Environmental Health Tracking Program. Prior to joining NRDC, Rotkin-Ellman was an environmental scientist with the New Mexico Environment Department. She earned her bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences from Brown University and her master’s in environmental health sciences from the University of California, Berkeley. She is based in San Francisco.