Elena Craft took the helm at HEI in August. Below, she shares personal insight, career highlights – including 15 years at the Environmental Defense Fund, most recently as Associate Vice President – and her vision for HEI moving forward.
Why did you decide to come to HEI?
I’ve followed the work of HEI for many, many years and deeply value the integrity with which HEI operates. HEI’s science and review committees represent leading international experts in their disciplines; as a result, the careful and thoughtful approach they take in reviewing and evaluating the strength of scientific studies means that only the best and most compelling science survives. I’ve even tested this myself; in testifying at congressional hearings, I’ve relied on data funded by HEI as some of our strongest evidence, often highlighted in policy decisions related to our national health-based standards. I think of the HEI model as “peer-review on steroids."
What are some top lessons you’ve learned during your career that will inform your leadership role at HEI?
Over the years, I’ve learned that building and nurturing a strong team with a shared passion and commitment to achieve a common vision is mission critical. In every job I’ve had, I’ve been fortunate to work with a diverse team skilled in so many different disciplines, and I find it really exciting to bring everyone together for a shared purpose – especially when it is centered on protecting human health or our planet. On a personal note, I am married to an introvert, and I understand the value and importance of getting feedback from everyone, even people who might be silent during a meeting!
What are some successes that you’ve been proudest of?
Managing a massive media response in Houston to a series of chemical disasters in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey has been a highlight of my career. I felt that those efforts by the scientific team I was leading at the Environmental Defense Fund raised awareness about chemical disasters in a way that hadn’t been done before. In addition, as our messaging was centered exclusively on uplifting community voices, I believe that those efforts helped to increase the attention and investment in addressing some of the longstanding disparities that have existed across some of our most vulnerable communities.
I’m also very proud of a paper published earlier this year that assesses a broad suite of variables related to climate vulnerability at the census-track level nationwide. The take-home message is that no matter where you live in the U.S., you are vulnerable to a warming climate in one way or another.
Was there an educator or mentor you recall as being especially influential in your life?
I’ve been fortunate to benefit from many mentors in my life – and each one has offered support and guidance in different ways. Dr. Marie Lynn Miranda, current chancellor at the University of Illinois Chicago, was someone who showed me very early on that it was possible to balance (very delicately balance!) motherhood with a career in science; Dr. Elaine Symanski, at Baylor University, who generously taught me about the responsibilities of running a research center and advising mentees; Dr. Chris Portier, former head of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, who taught me about self-confidence and how to navigate among those in the highest levels of administration; Vickie Patton, general counsel at the Environmental Defense Fund, who taught me the value of bringing my full self to the job, with the passion and enthusiasm and authenticity needed (and in fact required) to be successful, especially in protecting our most precious resource, the next generation; and Reverend James Caldwell, who has taught me about the strength and resilience and power of communities in the face of incredible, immeasurable adversity. I am truly fortunate to be a student of these visionaries, as well as being able to learn from all my colleagues along the way.
Where are some of the areas of opportunity where HEI can focus in the future?
This is a truly exciting time in HEI’s history. We’re seeing the impacts of a warming climate lead from climate-fueled hurricanes to wildfires.
We’re also witnessing a massive clean energy transition and the development of a suite of new technologies and alternative fuels. And, given that the world is more connected than ever, there are opportunities for HEI to leverage our robust scientific expertise to understand the implications of legacy fleets, battery recycling and storage, and a host of other emerging issues.
Tell us about some of the things you do when you’re not working.
I won both the marriage and the kid lottery and am so fortunate to have an incredible and adventurous family. My son Luke is 9 and my daughter Nina is 7; most weekends, you can find us at a baseball field, soccer field, basketball court, swimming pool, yoga studio, gym, or piano recital. It’s also possible that we’re at the airport, traveling to see our beloved extended family scattered across the country, or on an adventure going to investigate a new country or new culture.
David Dorman is a veterinary toxicologist and a professor of toxicology at North Carolina State University. He completed his undergraduate training in chemistry at the University of San Diego, his veterinary training at Colorado State University, and his combined doctoral and veterinary toxicology residency program at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Dorman is a diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Toxicology and the American Board of Toxicology and is a European Registered Toxicologist. He is an elected fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a National Associate of the U.S. National Academies, and a recent recipient of the University of Eastern Finland’s Fulbright–Saastamoinen Foundation Distinguished Chair in Health Sciences.
Marianne Hatzopoulou is a professor in the Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering at the University of Toronto and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Transport Decarbonization and Air Quality. She is the director of Positive Zero Transport Futures, a living lab ecosystem for testing transport decarbonization innovations with positive societal outcomes. Her expertise is in exposure assessment and quantifying the co-benefits of greenhouse gas mitigation pathways in the transport sector. Hatzopoulou is an associate editor of the journal Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment and the current chair of the Transportation Research Board Standing Committee on Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas Mitigation.
John Volckens is a professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Center for Energy Development and Health at Colorado State University (CSU). He holds affiliate appointments in Environmental Health, Biomedical Engineering, the Colorado School of Public Health, and the CSU Energy Institute. His research interests involve air quality, low-cost sensors, exposure science, and air pollution–related disease. Volckens received a BS in civil engineering from the University of Vermont and MS/PhD degrees in environmental engineering from the Gillings School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, followed by a postdoctoral appointment at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Exposure Research Laboratory in Research Triangle Park, NC. At CSU, he has pioneered the development of several new aerosol measurement technologies, which have been deployed for public health research in over 40 different countries and as far away as the International Space Station. He is a co-founder of Access Sensor Technologies, a company started through his research collaborations at CSU.
Loni Philip Tabb is an associate professor of biostatistics in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the associate dean for faculty affairs at Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health. She leads and collaborates as a principal investigator and co-investigator, respectively, on several National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center funded projects. Her research focuses primarily on spatial statistics and epidemiology, with applications in health and social disparities, violence, and toxicity studies. More recently, Tabb has concentrated her research efforts on the intersection of health and place, specifically as it applies to cardiovascular health. In particular, she uses novel spatial and spatio-temporal statistical methods to look at the local and national geographic patterns of Black–white inequities in the United States. Tabb has taught several courses at Drexel, which include biostatistics, survival data analysis, advanced statistical computing, and Bayesian Data Analysis. She received her MS (2005) and BS (2003) in Mathematics from Drexel University, and her PhD (2010) and AM (2007) degrees in Biostatistics from Harvard University.
Sherri White-Williamson is the director of environmental justice strategy for the North Carolina Conservation Network (NCCN), where she broadens NCCN’s focus to give voice to impacted communities. She retired from the U.S. EPA Office of Environmental Justice, where she was manager of the Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice and Designated Federal Officer to the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council. In addition to her role with NCCN, White-Williamson is a member of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board; the Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice Advisory Board; an adjunct professor at the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment; and a co-founder of the Environmental Justice Community Action Network. White-Williamson holds a Juris Doctor and Master of Energy Regulation and Law degree from Vermont Law School, where she co-founded the Environmental Justice Law Society. She received the Marc Mihaly Environmental Leadership Award in recognition of her commitment to the environment and environmental justice.
HEI’s Global Health program recently kicked off a four-part 
