Ana Navas-Acien is a physician-epidemiologist (MD, University of Granada, Spain '96) with a specialty in Preventive Medicine and Public Health (Hospital La Paz, Madrid '01) and a PhD in Epidemiology (Johns Hopkins University '05). Her research investigates the long-term health effects of environmental exposures (metals, tobacco products, air pollution), their interactions with genetic and epigenetic variants, and effective interventions for reducing involuntary exposures. She collaborates with the Strong Heart Study, a study of cardiovascular disease in American Indian communities, and the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), a study of cardiovascular disease in US urban settings. Both in the US and internationally, she evaluates exposure to tobacco smoke including emerging public health challenges such as waterpipe smoking and e-cigarettes. Her goals are to contribute to address environmental health disparities in underserved communities.