Dr. Miranda serves as the Director of the Children’s Environmental Health Initiative (CEHI) within the Nicholas School of the Environment, and is a faculty member in Duke’s Integrated Toxicology Program. With an educational background rooted in economic and mathematical modeling, her professional experiences integrate environmental health sciences with sound social policies. Dr. Miranda has extensive experience managing research projects using geographic information systems (GIS) based analysis focusing on children’s environmental health, with an emphasis on reproductive and developmental toxicants and childhood lead exposure. CEHI supports a series of environmental research projects emphasizing the special vulnerabilities of children. Current projects include: 1. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded grant that uses GIS technology to create household-level predictive models of lead exposure risks and seeks to replicate this predictor model across 27 counties in North Carolina; 2. A National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences-funded grant to replicate the lead exposure risk model in other regions of the United States; 3. A U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-funded project to evaluate the importance of crawl spaces as sources of mold contamination in the livable part of the home environment. 4. A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded project with a focus GIS-based applications to support delivery of private and public health care services; 5. A Superfund Center Outreach Core project, part of Duke University’s NIEHS-funded Superfund Hazardous Substance Basic Research Center, that uses GIS-based models to compare the spatial distribution of children versus exposures to various contaminants and to provide outreach and education to communities in North Carolina and nationally. 6. PI-Thompson, Co-PI Miranda Howard Hughes Medical Institute Making Meaning of Genomic Information Curriculum development grant to improve Duke’s offerings to undergraduates related to genomics. Nicholas School subgrant focuses on gene-environment interactions. 7. PI-Schwartz; Miranda, Deputy Director NIEHS Center for Comparative Biology of Vulnerable Populations This project establishes an EHSRC on Duke University’s campus. 8. PI-Miranda NIH/Roadmap Initiative Center for Geospatial Medicine This project brings together seven investigators to develop an interdisciplinary research center that utilizes geospatial (GIS), molecular biological, genomic, epidemiological social and psychological technologies to develop systematic, spatially based methods for analyzing the pathways through which the environment, genetic, and psychosocial domains jointly shape child health and well being. Using neural tube defects as a prototype health endpoint, the researchers are developing a generalized framework for applying methods to a wide variety of endpoints, including autism, obesity, and ADHD. Dr. Miranda currently serves on the Durham County Lead Intervention Team, the North Carolina Ad Hoc Lead Advisory Committee, the North Carolina Lead Elimination Action Plan Strategic Planning Group, the North Carolina State Asthma Coalition, and the Board of Directors for the Alliance for Healthy Homes. * Gabel Chair in Environmental Ethics and Sustainable Environmental Management, (2000-2005) * Fellowships: A.B. Duke Scholar, Marshall, Truman, Eisenhower, the Lilly Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the AAUW American Fellowship Program, and the Harvard University Chiles Program. * Richard K. Lublin Distinguished Award for Teaching Excellence. * U.S. EPA Environmental Justice Achievement Award

School Division

Environmental Sciences & Policy

Education

  • Ph.D., Harvard University (1990)

Recent Publications