Melina Magsumbol

Biography

Melina S. Magsumbol-Samaddar is a medical anthropologist studying the impact of environmental pollutants (metals, pesticides, etc.) on birth outcomes. As a researcher for the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, she became interested in how pesticides impact the environment and the health of farming communities in South East Asia. She went for a Master’s in Medical Anthropology at the University of Memphis in Tennessee and pursued her research interest in pesticide use and health. While at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (Pediatrics) she managed birth cohort studies that combined GIS, biomonitoring, environmental exposure assessment and socio-economic analysis of factors that influence birth outcomes. She received a fellowship from the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta and worked as research fellow at the Organic Analytical Toxicology Branch. She was part of the management team that reported data for the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Before coming to PHFI, Melina was a Research Scientist at Georgia State University working on a birth cohort study with Emory University regarding late term prematurity and its impact on educational testing scores.

Research Interest

Birth outcomes research and environmental health, qualitative research methods