Rate My Professor Laura Vandenberg

Laura Vandenberg is Professor of Environmental Health Sciences in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she contributes significantly to Health Science research and education. She currently serves as Associate Vice Chancellor and Vice Provost for Research and Engagement, providing oversight for university centers and institutes, advancing community-engaged research, and supporting federal and international research strategies. Previously, she acted as interim Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Academic Affairs, and Graduate Program Director in Environmental Health Sciences. Vandenberg earned her BS from Cornell University in 2003 and PhD from Tufts University School of Medicine in 2007, followed by postdoctoral fellowships at the Forsyth Institute Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology with Harvard School of Dental Medicine (2007-2008) and Tufts University Department of Biology (2008-2013).

Her research program investigates the health effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, focusing on how low-dose exposures to chemicals and mixtures during critical developmental windows alter gene expression, cell differentiation, and tissue organization, predisposing individuals to adult diseases including breast cancer, obesity, and infertility. She studies plasticizers, flame retardants, and other ubiquitous endocrine disruptors, highlighting limitations in traditional toxicology assays and proposing improvements to hazard assessment and risk evaluation practices. Vandenberg is author on more than 130 peer-reviewed papers and 18 book chapters, with highly cited publications such as 'Hormones and endocrine-disrupting chemicals: low-dose effects and nonmonotonic dose responses' (Endocrine Reviews, 2012), 'Human exposure to bisphenol A (BPA)' (Reproductive Toxicology, 2007), and 'Consensus on the key characteristics of endocrine-disrupting chemicals as a basis for hazard identification' (Nature Reviews Endocrinology, 2020). Funded by the National Institutes of Health, Sudoc LLC, and foundations including the Cornell Douglas Foundation, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, JPB Foundation, and Great Neck Breast Cancer Coalition, her influential work has earned recognition as one of the world's most highly cited researchers in 2022 by Clarivate and invitations for keynote addresses and media interviews.