Rate My Professor Ulrike Luderer

Ulrike Luderer is Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the University of California, Irvine Joe C. Wen School of Population and Public Health. She holds joint appointments as Professor in the Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, and Professor in the Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, School of Biological Sciences. As Director of the UCI Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, she oversees initiatives to enhance occupational and environmental health services across Southern California for government, industry, schools, health professionals, and the public. A board-certified occupational and environmental medicine physician and reproductive toxicologist, Luderer obtained her MD and PhD in reproductive endocrinology from Northwestern University, an MPH during her Occupational and Environmental Medicine fellowship at the University of Washington, and Sc.B. degrees in biomedical engineering and French from Brown University.

Luderer's research centers on the mechanisms through which environmental toxicants, air pollutants, and ionizing radiation impair reproductive function, particularly ovarian toxicity, premature ovarian failure, and transgenerational effects. Her studies examine prenatal exposures to benzo[a]pyrene, fine particulate matter (PM2.5), Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, and space radiation on ovarian reserve, germ cell transcriptome, and fertility. She serves as Principal Investigator on multiple grants, including NIH R01ES020454 on developmental gene-environment interactions and premature ovarian failure (2012-2024), Department of Defense funding for fine particulate matter and gonadal toxicity interactions with Alzheimer’s disease progression (2023-2026), and UCI MIND initiatives on environmental exposures and gonadal function (2023-2024). Notable publications include "Prenatal exposure to benzo[a]pyrene depletes ovarian reserve and masculinizes embryonic ovarian germ cell transcriptome transgenerationally" (Scientific Reports, 2023), "Decreased glutathione synthesis in granulosa cells, but not oocytes, of growing follicles decreases fertility in mice" (Biology of Reproduction, 2024), "Adverse impacts of particulate matter air pollution on female and male reproduction" (Reproduction, 2025), and "Irradiation with a Mixed Heavy Ion Beam Induces Ovarian Follicle Loss and Dose-Dependent Mixed Ovarian Tumor Development" (Biology of Reproduction, 2026). Her contributions have earned awards such as the 2022 Paper of the Year in Particle and Fibre Toxicology, 2017 Jean Spencer Felton Award for Excellence in Scientific Writing from the Western Occupational and Environmental Medicine Association, and the NIH Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award (2002-2007). Luderer is a member of the Society of Toxicology, American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Endocrine Society, and Society for the Study of Reproduction.