Lara Cushing
UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
650 Charles E. Young Drive South
56-070 CHS, Los Angeles, CA 90095
Academic Titles/Accomplishments/Affiliations:
BS, Molecular Environmental Biology, University of California, Berkeley
MPH, Epidemiology, University of California, Berkeley
PhD, Energy & Resources Group, University of California, Berkeley
Lara Cushing’s research focuses on social inequalities in exposure to environmental hazards, and race and class determinants of environmental health disparities. Her work has investigated questions of environmental justice in the context of hazardous industrial facilities, prenatal exposures to harmful man-made chemicals, urban greenspace, oil and gas drilling, and global climate change. Dr. Cushing holds a M.P.H. in Epidemiology and a B.S. in Molecular Environmental Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. She received her PhD from the Energy & Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley in 2015. She is an Environmental Fellow of the Robert & Patricia Switzer Foundation and JPB Environmental Health Fellow through the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Select Publications:
Cushing LJ, K Vavra-Muser, K Chau, M Franklin, JE Johnston, “Flaring from unconventional Oil and Gas Development and Birth Outcomes in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas”, Environmental Health Perspectives (2020) 128(7): 770031-770039, PMCID: PMC7362742, doi: 10.1289/EHP6394
Johnston, J.E., K. Chau, M. Franklin, L. Cushing, “Environmental Justice Dimensions of Oil and Gas Flaring in South Texas: Disproportionate Exposure among Hispanic communities”, Environmental Science & Technology (2020), PMID: 32338877, doi: 10.1021/acs.est.0c00410
Johnston, J., and Cushing, L., “Chemical exposures, health, and environmental justice in communities living on the fenceline of industry”, Current Environmental Health Reports (2020), PMCID: PMC7035204, doi: 10.1007/s40572-020-00263-8
Yang, J., L. Cushing, R. Morello-Frosch, “An Equity Analysis of Clean Vehicle Rebate Programs in California”, Climatic Change (2020) doi: 10.1007/s10584-020-02836-w
Cushing L., Blaustein-Rejto D., Wander M., Pastor M., Sadd J., Zhu A., Morello-Frosch R. “Carbon trading, co-pollutants, and environmental equity: Evidence from California’s cap-and-trade program (2011–2015)”, PLOS Medicine (2018) 15(7): e1002604, PMCID: PMC6038989, doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002604
Cushing, L., J. Faust, L. August, R. Cendak, W. Wieland and G. Alexeeff, “Racial/ethnic disparities in cumulative environmental health impacts in California: evidence from a state-wide environmental justice screening tool (CalEnviroScreen 1.1)”, American Journal of Public Health (2015) 105(11): 2341-2348, PMCID: PMC4605180, doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2015.302643
Cushing, L., R. Morello-Frosch, M. Wander and M. Pastor, “The Haves, the Have-nots, and the Health of Everyone: The Relationship between Social Inequality and Environmental Quality”, Annual Review of Public Health (2015), 18(36): 193-209, PMID:25785890, doi: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031914-122646