Rate My Professor Beate Ritz

Beate Ritz joined the faculty of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health in 1995 and is Professor of Epidemiology with co-appointments in the Environmental Health Sciences department at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and in the Department of Neurology at the UCLA School of Medicine. She serves as Vice Chair of the Epidemiology Department. Ritz is a member of the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health and the Southern California Environmental Health Science Center. She co-directed the NIEHS-funded UCLA Center for Gene-Environment Studies of Parkinson’s disease and is the Interim Director for the APDA Center of Excellence in Parkinson’s Disease Research.

Ritz received her MD in 1983 and a PhD in Medical Sociology in 1987 from the University of Hamburg in Germany. She completed research fellow and resident positions at the Psychiatric University-Hospital in Hamburg from 1987 to 1989. She earned an MPH in 1993 and a PhD in Epidemiology in 1995 from UCLA. Her research examines the health effects of occupational and environmental toxins, including pesticides, ionizing radiation, and air pollution, on chronic diseases such as neurodegenerative disorders including Parkinson’s disease, cancers, and adverse birth outcomes. Honors include the 2006 Robert M. Zweig Memorial Award, 2007 Collegium Ramazzini Fellow, 2011 APDA award, 2018 Highly Cited Author recognition, 2021 ISEE Fellow, and 2022 SER Ken Rothman Career Achievement Award. She has held editorial board positions, served on numerous national and international committees including NAS/IOM panels and as President of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology from 2018 to 2019, and contributed to multiple federally funded research projects.