DR. BEATE RITZ
M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Dr. Ritz holds co-appointments in Environmental Health Sciences and Neurology at the UCLA, School of Medicine.
Research Interests
Her primary research interests are the effects of occupational and environmental exposures (air pollution and pesticides) on neurodevelopmental disorders and neurodegenerative diseases; reproductive outcomes and cancers. Her lab has developed Geographic Information System (GIS) based tools to assess effects of long-term pesticide and air pollution exposures in California.
Appointments/ Positions
She serves as co-director of the UCLA Center for Studies of Parkinson’s Disease (CSPD). In the past two decades, she served on numerous National Academy of Sciences/Institute of Medicine (IOM) committees including on Gulf War Illness and on Risk Assessment in the 21st Century.
She currently serves as a member of Cal-EPA Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants. Dr. Ritz was the 2017/18 President-Elect/President of the International Society of Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE).
Awards
She is the 2009 award recipient for Excellence in Research from the American Parkinson’s Disease Association and the 2007 Robert M. Zweig M.D. Memorial Award (Clean Air Award) from the California South Coast Air Quality Management District. She was also awarded the title of Distinguished Professor from UCLA in 2021.
