Tania Desrosiers

Tania A. Desrosiers is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health. She joined UNC as a Graduate Research Assistant from 2006 to 2008, advanced to Clinical Research Scientist from 2011 to 2015, served as Assistant Professor from 2016 to October 2022, and has been Associate Professor since November 2022. Earlier in her career, she worked as an Epidemiologist in the North Carolina Division of Public Health Birth Defects Monitoring Program from 2008 to 2011, Research and Evaluation Associate at Cambridge Health Alliance in 2003, and Research Intern at the Framingham Heart Study in 2002. Dr. Desrosiers holds a PhD in Epidemiology from UNC Chapel Hill in 2011, an MPH in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from Tufts University School of Medicine in 2003, and a BA in Philosophy with a Certificate in Community Health from Tufts University in 2002. She received awards including the Sidney Kark Award for Distinguished Teaching Assistant from UNC in 2007, Kirschstein National Research Service Award predoc traineeship from 2004 to 2006, Public Health Traineeship from 2002 to 2003, AMA Foundation Health Literacy Grant in 2003, and Tufts University Graduate Programs Achievement Award in 2003.

Dr. Desrosiers specializes in perinatal and pediatric epidemiology, focusing on the etiology of major structural birth defects to support prevention through clinical and public health translation. Her research interests encompass birth defects surveillance, periconceptional exposure assessment, employment and occupational exposures during pregnancy, male-mediated mechanisms of teratogenesis, epidemiologic methods, interdisciplinary collaboration, and research dissemination. As co-principal investigator of the CDC-funded North Carolina Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention, she contributes to improving birth defects understanding. She participated in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study, the largest U.S. population-based epidemiologic study of more than 30 birth defect types. Key publications include 'Low carbohydrate diets may increase risk of neural tube defects' (Birth Defects Research, 2018), a top cited article; 'Exome sequencing identifies novel genes underlying primary congenital glaucoma' (Birth Defects Research, 2024); 'Maternal physical activity, sitting time, and risk of non-cardiac birth defects' (Pediatric Research, 2024); 'Associations between birth defects with neural crest cell developmental origins and pediatric embryonal tumors' (Cancer, 2023); and 'Maternal occupational exposure to selected organic and chlorinated solvents and delivery of small-for-gestational age or preterm infants' (American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 2023). She is a core faculty member of the Reproductive, Perinatal, and Pediatric Epidemiology program and teaches courses such as EPID 851/MCH 851: Reproductive and Perinatal Epidemiology.

Professional Email: tania.desrosiers@unc.edu