Sharon K. Sagiv

Dr. Sharon K. Sagiv is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health and an investigator at the Center for Environmental Research and Children’s Health. Her research focuses on prenatal and early-life environmental toxin exposures, particularly persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals, pesticides, and consumer chemicals, and their impacts on child neurodevelopment. She has extensively studied associations between environmental toxicants and neurodevelopmental disorders like ADHD and autism, alongside innovative work using functional neuroimaging to assess neural activity in exposed populations.

Dr. Sagiv holds a PhD in Epidemiology from UNC Chapel Hill (2004), an MPH from Boston University (1998), and a BA in Biology from Franklin and Marshall College (1993). She has contributed to major cohorts such as CHAMACOS and Project Viva, examining long-term effects of pollutants like PFAS, organophosphates, and PBDEs. Her work bridges epidemiology, toxicology, and neuroimaging to advance understanding of environmental health risks.

Research interests emphasize translational environmental health science, with a focus on pesticide mixtures, air pollution, and endocrine disruptors. Key themes include exposure assessment frameworks, functional neuroimaging outcomes, and developmental origins of health disparities. She teaches grant-writing seminars and collaborates globally on pesticide neurotoxicity studies in farmworker populations. Recent publications highlight links between prenatal PFAS exposure and metabolic outcomes, pesticide exposure and brain connectivity, and traffic pollution’s role in neurocognitive decline.

Her research portfolio includes systematic reviews on air pollution health impacts and methodological innovations for assessing chemical mixtures in pregnancy. Dr. Sagiv’s work has policy implications for environmental regulations and public health interventions targeting vulnerable populations.