Lydia Louis

Dr. Lydia M. Louis is an epidemiologist, toxicologist, and science policy leader with more than 20 years of experience advancing environmental and occupational health across government, academia, and global diplomacy.

She holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Health from Rutgers University and has served in senior leadership roles at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences within the National Institutes of Health and at the U.S. Department of State, where she directed multimillion-dollar research and international policy portfolios spanning climate and environmental health, chemical risk assessment, and occupational exposure science.

She has led cross-disciplinary teams, advised White House and interagency working groups, built the State Department’s first PFAS policy portfolio, and represented the United States in major global environmental negotiations under the United Nations Environment Programme and related treaty frameworks. With prior academic leadership at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Louis is widely recognized for translating complex epidemiology, toxicology, and exposure science into regulatory strategy, global governance solutions, and evidence-based policies that protect vulnerable populations and strengthen environmental health systems worldwide.