Felicia Rabito named chair of Environmental Health Sciences
Felicia Rabito, an epidemiologist whose research examines how environmental exposures contribute to health disparities, has been named chair of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.
Rabito has served as interim chair since 2025, and she joined the department as an adjunct professor in 2023. Going forward, she will hold a joint faculty appointment in the Departments of Environmental Health Sciences and Epidemiology.
For more than 25 years at Tulane, Rabito has conducted community-based environmental epidemiologic research among vulnerable urban populations, with a particular focus on housing as a modifiable social determinant of health. Her research examines environmental contaminants including indoor allergens, mold, lead, pesticides and indoor air pollution, as well as the effects of a warming climate and psychosocial stress on exposure and health. Her work has examined respiratory, cardiovascular and cognitive health in both children and adults.
"Environmental health is increasingly central to the public health challenges facing communities, particularly in the Gulf South"
A major focus of her research has been childhood asthma in underserved urban populations. Through the federally funded Allergen Reduction and Child Health Study (ARCHS), Rabito has examined whether a practical intervention focused on cockroach exposure can improve asthma outcomes compared with a more intensive approach targeting multiple household allergens.
Her work also extends to other environmental contributors to health disparities. Her current research includes studies of copper metabolism and cardiometabolic health, indoor air pollution and cognition in older adults, and emerging environmental exposures in the Gulf South. Across these areas, she seeks not only to identify environmental risk factors but also to develop interventions that can be implemented in real-world settings and inform clinical and public health decision-making.
Rabito has received national recognition for her work in environmental health, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary’s Award for Research in Healthy Housing and the National Lead Star Award for her work in pediatric lead poisoning prevention. She has served on federal expert panels for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HUD and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and was recognized as a Health Care Hero by CityBusiness.
Her expertise has also informed environmental health efforts in Louisiana. She serves on the Louisiana Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Advisory Board and has testified before the New Orleans City Council about the geographic distribution of elevated lead levels in the city and the need for stronger protections against continued lead exposure from dry sanding of lead-based paint.
A longtime member of the Tulane community, Rabito earned both her MPH in biostatistics and epidemiology and PhD in epidemiology from Tulane.
As chair, Rabito will lead a department whose work spans a broad range of environmental health challenges, including climate and health, extreme heat, health security and disaster management, and mechanistic environmental health sciences.
“Environmental health is increasingly central to the public health challenges facing communities, particularly in the Gulf South,” Rabito said. “Our department brings together researchers and educators with expertise across that spectrum, and I look forward to building on those strengths as we prepare the next generation of environmental health professionals and scientists.”