Melissa J. Perry ScD, MHS

Melissa Perry is an epidemiologist and Professor and Chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. She is a leading public health researcher whose wide-ranging epidemiologic and preventive intervention studies over the past two decades have investigated factors in occupational injury and disease and the influence of chemical and physical agents on reproduction. Dr. Perry's research has drawn international attention to the health effects of pesticide exposure. Her work has shed light on how people are exposed to pesticides, as well as the mutagenic and hormonal effects of these exposures on farming communities, agricultural workers, and the general public. After identifying risks to workers at meat-packing plants, construction sites, and agricultural operations, Dr. Perry has developed engineering and behavioral interventions to address these risks. Before coming to George Washington University in 2010.

Dr. Perry spent 13 years on the Harvard School of Public Health's Department of Environmental Health faculty. Dr. Perry is the Chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (NCEH/ATSDR) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and she has been a member of the board since 2014. She served as the President of the American College of Epidemiology in 2014-15. Dr. Perry has a BA in Psychology from the University of Vermont, and an MHS and ScD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health.