Professor Studies Hazard Exposure and Health Disparities among Workers

Diana Ceballos, assistant professor of environmental health at Boston University, studies the burden of exposure to toxicants in the workplace, community, and home.

When the New York Times published a widely read, two-part exposé of labor abuse and poor working conditions at New York City-area nail salons in 2015, Diana Ceballos was part of a team of occupational health experts called upon by the state Department of Health to assess salon working environments and nail technicians’ exposure to unsafe chemicals.

As a chemical engineer with a PhD in environmental and occupational hygiene, Ceballos was working at the time as an industrial hygienist for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), where she measured and analyzed the impact of workplace hazards on workers’ health—which is one of the federal agencies within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Read more about Senior JPB Fellow Diana Ceballos’ research.