Linda Powers Tomasso

Speaker

Linda Powers Tomasso investigates nature as a health promoter in her doctoral research at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. Her mixed-methods approach to exposure assessment brings qualitative insights from people’s lived experiences to a discipline typically determined by measurement alone. This is important to learn what factors motivate nature-seeking behavior, what barriers in built environments and formative experiences exist around nature engagement, and how these factors affect equity of nature access for all individuals. An MS from Georgetown, MA from Harvard in Environmental Management, and an early career with the U.S. State Dept shaped Linda’s focus on policy implications of her research. She will present her study results on “Implications of Disparities in Pathways to Adult Nature Engagement” at the 2021 Conferences for the American Public Health Association and International Society of Environmental Epidemiology.