About

Professor Emily Barrett is associated with EOHSI at Rutgers University, which sponsors research, education, and service programs in environmental health, toxicology, occupational health, exposure assessment, public policy, and health education. The institute houses a group of scientists, physicians, educators, and policy researchers engaged in studies of contaminants and various environmental policy and public health issues. EOHSI's mission includes studying and improving environmental and occupational health through scientific research, training, and communication of research findings to professional and lay groups. The institute offers graduate degree programs such as the Joint Graduate Program in Toxicology, the Joint Graduate Program in Exposure Science, and a Residency Program in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Additionally, EOHSI participates in summer enrichment programs for undergraduates and high school students interested in environmental and occupational health, toxicology, and related fields.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Internal medicine
• Biology
• Political Science
• Sociology
• Physiology
• Immunology
• Demography
• Virology
• Environmental health
• Obstetrics
• Psychology
• Social psychology
• Intensive care medicine
• Nursing
• Genetics
• Gerontology
• Bioinformatics
• Environmental chemistry
• Psychiatry
• Geography
• Family medicine
• Pathology
• Pediatrics

Selected publications

• Hair care product use among pregnant women of color: protocol for a feasibility educational intervention

  Frontiers in Reproductive Health · 2026-01-22

  articleOpen access

  Background: Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) disrupt hormonal regulation and pose health risks. Phthalates, common in personal care products, contribute to disparate chemical exposures among different demographic groups, notably impacting critical life stages like pregnancy and postpartum. Objective: Using an environmental health literacy framework, we designed an educational intervention for pregnant Women of Color to highlight the health risks of phthalates in hair care products. The intervention aimed to measure behavioral changes toward phthalate-free products through self-reporting and urinary phthalate metabolite levels and explore factors influencing hair care practices during pregnancy. Methods: In collaboration with multidisciplinary academicians, environmental health, and breast cancer advocates, we developed a virtual educational intervention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Components included a facilitated presentation, an educational video, and a semi-structured interview guide that was refined through feedback. Data collection involved baseline and follow-up sessions, sociodemographic data, hair product usage, behavior related to phthalate-containing products, and urine sample collection. To provide proof of methodological principle, we examined individual change over time from questionnaire data and targeted exposomics analysis of urinary phthalate compounds among women with baseline and follow-up data. Results: Educational materials were developed in English and Spanish. Enrollment occurred from March 2021 to June 2022, involving participants in the second or third trimester of pregnancy. Women enrolled before 31 weeks gestation, completed a baseline assessment and at least one follow-up assessment, while those at ≥31 weeks gestation completed a baseline assessment and one postpartum follow-up assessment. Forty-six participants enrolled, with 31 completing the intervention, and 42 urine samples collected. Women who completed the educational intervention were slightly older than those women who did not attend an intervention session [mean age (SD) 31.0 (5.8) vs. 27.5 (5.4)], respectively. Product and brand use decreased over time, and portions of participants exhibited reductions in six different low molecular weight phthalate metabolites (27%-73% reductions). Significance: This intervention was shaped by a collaborative effort that ensured its cultural relevance, linguistic inclusivity, and alignment with community needs, amplifying its potential impact on reducing the unequal burden of environmental exposures in marginalized communities. Clinical Trial Registration: NCT04493892.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Prenatal phthalate exposure and neurodevelopmental delay in early childhood (1 to 3 years): An Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) study

  Environment International · 2026-01-23

  articleOpen access

  Phthalates are widely used in consumer products and are recognized as endocrine disruptors. Prenatal exposure to phthalates has been associated with various adverse health outcomes, including preterm birth and impaired fetal growth, and growing attention is being paid to their potential impact on child neurodevelopment. However, previous epidemiological studies examining prenatal phthalate exposure and child neurodevelopment have produced inconsistent or inconclusive findings, and evidence on phthalate mixtures remains limited. In this study, we utilized data from the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Cohort to investigate associations between urinary biomarkers of prenatal phthalate exposure, both individually and as a mixture, and likelihood of neurodevelopmental delay (NDD) in offspring at ages 1 to 3 years. This study included 2378 pregnant person-child dyads from 10 ECHO cohorts who had measurements of NDD odds assessed using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, Third Edition (ASQ-3). Our single-pollutant analyses revealed mixed findings. Higher prenatal exposure to certain phthalates was associated with higher odds of NDD across multiple domains, including motor and problem-solving skills, with evidence of effect modification by child sex. Conversely, we observed negative associations between specific prenatal phthalate concentrations and lower odds of NDD, particularly in communication domain. From mixture analyses, however, no significant associations were observed between the overall phthalate mixture and NDD odds in most domains, except for negative association for the personal-social domain. Further investigation into the biological mechanisms underlying these relationships, as well as more detailed evaluations of phthalate mixtures, will help advance our understanding of how prenatal phthalate exposure may influence early childhood neurodevelopment.

  PublisherDOI

• Implementing empirical likelihood within the causal inference framework to study causal effects of air pollution on reproductive development

  Statistical Methods in Medical Research · 2026-04-08

  articleOpen access

  To study whether air pollution is detrimental to reproductive development is imperative. In the absence of randomized trials to study the effects of air pollution on human health, data from observational studies have been utilized in which the researchers attempted to capture the causal associations between air pollution and the health outcomes. Many of these studies rely on parametric assumptions which may be limiting. In this tutorial, we explain and implement the nonparametric empirical likelihood (EL) Algorithm within the causal inference framework of a classic methodology and a newer technique based on machine learning tools. We show the competitive results of the assumption free EL in simulations. We also apply the developed methods to study the causal association between PM2.5 and NO2 exposure and anogenital distance at birth, a marker of androgen activity.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Life’s Essential 8 in Pregnancy and Time to Incident Cardiometabolic Disease Over 7 Years Follow-Up

  medRxiv · 2026-04-16

  articleOpen access

  Importance: Assessment of cardiovascular health (CVH) during may unmask latent metabolic vulnerability and indicate long-term disease risk. However, the prognostic value of the AHA's Life's Essential 8 (LE8) framework during pregnancy remains uncertain. Objective: To evaluate CVH during using a modified Life's Essential 8 (mLE8) score in association with time to incident cardiometabolic disease. Design: Prospective cohort study with electronic medical record (EMR) surveillance for 7 years postpartum (August 2018-March 2026). Adjusted accelerated time-to-failure models estimated mLE8 associations with incident conditions. Setting: A population-based prenatal cohort recruited from a large academic medical system in South Carolina. Participants: Singleton pregnancies in individuals aged 18 to 44 years without pre-existing diabetes or cardiovascular disease (CVD). Exposures: A 7-component mLE8 score assessed during pregnancy, incorporating hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), 50-g glucose tolerance test results, pre-pregnancy body mass index, smoking status, sleep adequacy, diet quality, and physical activity. Scores ranged from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable CVH. Main Outcomes and Measures: Post-delivery incident cardiometabolic conditions captured through EMRs and classified as chronic hypertensive conditions, chronic metabolic conditions (e.g., dyslipidemia, impaired glucose regulation), and CVD (e.g. cardiac arrest, cardiomyopathy). Time to incident diagnosis was measured in days from delivery. Results: Among 1,225 pregnancies (mean age, 25.0 [5.3] years), 499 incident cardiometabolic events occurred over a median follow-up of 6.2 (2.8) years. Each 10-point higher mLE8 score was associated with a longer time to incident diagnosis of chronic hypertensive conditions (time ratio [TR], 1.26; 95% CI, 1.11-1.42) and chronic metabolic conditions (TR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.11-1.29). Healthier HDP, glucose, BMI, and sleep scores were most strongly associated with longer time to diagnosis of chronic metabolic disease. Results were robust to sensitivity analyses excluding individuals who developed gestational diabetes or HDP. Conclusions and Relevance: In this racially diverse, low-income cohort study of 1,225 pregnancies, better CVH during pregnancy was associated with a longer time to incident post-delivery diagnosis of cardiometabolic conditions. Pregnancy-based CVH assessment may help identify individuals with elevated and emerging cardiometabolic risk who could benefit from early, targeted intervention and enhanced longitudinal surveillance. Key Points: : Pregnancy cardiovascular health assessment using LE8 may identify individuals with elevated risk and latent vulnerability, and support earlier intervention during a sensitive window for prevention of long-term cardiometabolic disease.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Neighborhood stress and social vulnerability in relation to placental metals concentrations.

  Research Square · 2025-11-13

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Gestational fine particulate matter exposure and perinatal outcomes in the ECHO cohort: Associations across pregnancy windows

  Environmental Research · 2025-12-22

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Do measures of general versus pregnancy-related anxiety have distinct maternal-fetal-placental biology?

  Journal of Affective Disorders · 2025-11-11

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Prenatal organophosphate ester exposure and epigenetic changes at birth: a characterization of the methylome in the ECHO cohort

  Environment International · 2025-11-01

  articleOpen access

  • Organophosphate esters (OPEs) are a class of flame retardants and plasticizers. • We examined DNA methylation at birth associated with prenatal OPE biomarkers. • Prenatal exposure to certain OPEs was associated with global hypomethylation. • Differential methylation occurred in two genes instrumental to early development. • Sex-specific differences were found in global and gestational epigenetic age. Prenatal exposure to organophosphate esters (OPEs) affects multiple child health domains. Alterations to the DNA methylome are a plausible mechanism through which these changes occur. This study characterized DNA methylation signatures at birth associated with prenatal OPE biomarkers. We included 736 mother-infant pairs from 7 sites in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Cohort. Five OPE biomarkers were quantified in maternal urine samples collected during the second and third trimesters and modeled as log 2 -transformed continuous variables. Using covariate-adjusted linear regression, we tested associations between OPE biomarkers and locus-specific, regional, and global cord blood DNA methylation changes measured by Illumina 450 K and EPIC arrays, and gestational epigenetic age measured by the Knight gestational age epigenetic clock generated with measures from the 27 K, 450 K, and EPIC arrays. When feasible, we examined relationships by sex. Global hypomethylation at multiple regions was associated with BDCPP concentrations (p = 0.003 to 0.02, coef = -0.002). Differentially methylated regions annotated to PCDHGB1 and SLC43A2 were associated with BDCPP and DPHP concentrations, respectively (FDR q < 0.05). In sex-specific analyses, global hypomethylation was associated with prenatal BDCPP (p = 0.006 to 0.03, coef = -0.0003 to −0.0002) and DBUP_DIBP (p = 0.01, coef = -0.0007 to −0.0006) concentrations in females; and global hypermethylation was associated with DBUP_DIBP concentrations in males (p < 0.05, coef = 0.0004). BCETP concentrations were significantly associated with decelerated epigenetic aging at birth in females (p < 0.05, coef = -0.05). Prenatal exposure to OPEs impacts child methylation at birth, suggesting a potential mechanism for the association between prenatal OPE exposure and child health outcomes.

  PublisherDOI

• Prenatal air pollution exposure and placental vasculature development among participants of the UPSIDE cohort study

  Environmental Research · 2025-09-20

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• To Play or Not to Play: A Systematic Review of Digital Games in the Educational Curriculum for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and/or Intellectual Disabilities

  Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · 2025-11-14

  article
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Community Engagement Core & Science Communication

  NIH · $18.4M · 1997–2029

• NIH Grant R01HD083369

  NIH · $2.6M · 2021

• Common Mechanisms linking Pre- and Post-Natal Exposures for Child Health Outcomes

  NIH · $7.0M · 2016–2025

• Common Mechanisms linking Pre- and Post-Natal Exposures for Child Health Outcomes

  NIH · $14.2M · 2016–2030

• Placental Responses to Environmental Chemicals

  NIH · $3.2M · 2018–2024

Frequent coauthors

• Sheela Sathyanarayana

  University of Washington

  257 shared

• Ruby H.N. Nguyen

  176 shared

• Thomas G. O’Connor

  171 shared

• Nicole R. Bush

  Cohort (United Kingdom)

  159 shared

• Zorimar Rivera‐Núñez

  Rutgers Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

  142 shared

• Shanna H. Swan

  Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

  136 shared

• Richard K. Miller

  University of Rochester

  120 shared

• Kaja Z. LeWinn

  University of California, San Francisco

  91 shared

Labs

• EOHSIPI

Education

• Other, Biology and English

  Rutgers University

Awards & honors

• Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Healt…
• Environmental Health News Science Communications Fellow (200…