Rachel Criswell, MD, MS

Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology

MD, MS, Biomedical Sciences, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, 2018

BA, Slavic Languages and Literatures, Yale University, 2007

Dr. Criswell is a physician-scientist whose research focuses on long-term health outcomes associated with exposure to environmental toxicants. She is the lead investigator in an NIEHS-funded grant to explore exposure pathways and mental health outcomes associated with exposure to agricultural biosolids contaminated by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) among a cohort in rural Maine. She also works with the Norwegian Institute of Public Health's Norwegian Human Milk Study and Dartmouth's New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study exploring peri-natal toxicant exposure, with a focus on PFAS. Her published and ongoing work includes exploring maternal-infant transmission of toxicants via human milk, associations between exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals and lactation and milk metabolomics, and early life toxicant exposure and long-term child health outcomes. Dr. Criswell's research is rooted in her clinical work as a full-spectrum family physician in rural Maine, where she cares for families across the lifespan and for individuals affected by high levels of PFAS exposure. She received her Medical Degree and Master's of Science in Biomedical Research from Columbia University and completed her Family Medicine Residency at the Maine Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency in Augusta and Waterville.