Honorary Doctor of Science

Linda S. Birnbaum, Ph.D., has exhibited bravery during a time when science, especially environmental science, has been marginalized. She is a pioneer, leader, researcher, and environmental health advocate.

Birnbaum is the former director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health, and the National Toxicology Program. A board-certified toxicologist, Birnbaum served as a federal scientist for 40 years, and was granted scientist emeritus status when she retired. She spent 19 years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where she directed the largest division focusing on environmental health research.

In 2016, she was awarded the North Carolina Award in Science. She was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, one of the highest honors in the fields of medicine and health, and to the Collegium Ramazzini, an independent, international academy of internationally renowned experts. She earned honorary doctorates from the University of Rochester, Ben-Gurion University in Israel, and Amity University in India. Named a Distinguished Alumna by the University of Illinois, she received the Surgeon General’s Medallion in 2014.

President of the Society of Toxicology and vice president of the International Union of Toxicology, the umbrella organization for toxicology societies in more than 50 countries, she is the author of more than 1,000 peer-reviewed publications. She is an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and was recently appointed a Scholar in Residence at Duke University.