Dr. Miranda serves as the Director of the Children’s Environmental Health Initiative (CEHI) within the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, and is a faculty member in Duke’s Integrated Toxicology Program. With an educational background rooted in economic and mathematical modeling, her professional experiences integrate environmental health sciences with sound social policies. Dr. Miranda has extensive experience managing research projects using geographic information systems (GIS) based analysis focusing on children’s environmental health, with an emphasis on reproductive and developmental toxicants and childhood lead exposure. CEHI supports a series of environmental research projects emphasizing the special vulnerabilities of children. Current projects include: 1. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded grant that uses GIS technology to create household-level predictive models of lead exposure risks and seeks to replicate this predictor model across 27 counties in North Carolina; 2. A National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences-funded grant to replicate the lead exposure risk model in other regions of the United States; 3. A U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-funded project to evaluate the importance of crawl spaces as sources of mold contamination in the livable part of the home environment. 4. A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded project with a focus GIS-based applications to support delivery of private and public health care services; 5. A Superfund Center Outreach Core project, part of Duke University’s NIEHS-funded Superfund Hazardous Substance Basic Research Center, that uses GIS-based models to compare the spatial distribution of children versus exposures to various contaminants and to provide outreach and education to communities in North Carolina and nationally. 6. PI-Thompson, Co-PI Miranda Howard Hughes Medical Institute Making Meaning of Genomic Information Curriculum development grant to improve Duke’s offerings to undergraduates related to genomics. Nicholas School subgrant focuses on gene-environment interactions. 7. PI-Schwartz; Miranda, Deputy Director NIEHS Center for Comparative Biology of Vulnerable Populations This project establishes an EHSRC on Duke University’s campus. 8. PI-Miranda NIH/Roadmap Initiative Center for Geospatial Medicine This project brings together seven investigators to develop an interdisciplinary research center that utilizes geospatial (GIS), molecular biological, genomic, epidemiological social and psychological technologies to develop systematic, spatially based methods for analyzing the pathways through which the environment, genetic, and psychosocial domains jointly shape child health and well being. Using neural tube defects as a prototype health endpoint, the researchers are developing a generalized framework for applying methods to a wide variety of endpoints, including autism, obesity, and ADHD. Dr. Miranda currently serves on the Durham County Lead Intervention Team, the North Carolina Ad Hoc Lead Advisory Committee, the North Carolina Lead Elimination Action Plan Strategic Planning Group, the North Carolina State Asthma Coalition, and the Board of Directors for the Alliance for Healthy Homes. * Gabel Chair in Environmental Ethics and Sustainable Environmental Management, (2000) * Fellowships: Marshall, Truman, Eisenhower, the Lilly Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the AAUW American Fellowship Program, and the Harvard University Chiles Program. * Richard K. Lublin Distinguished Award for Teaching Excellence.

Contact Info:

Office Location:	A134 LSRC
Office Phone:	(919) 613-8723, (919) 613-8000
Email Address:

School(s):

Department(s):

Division(s):  

Environmental Health

Topical Interests:

Health and Human Rights

Geographical Interests:

Research Interests:

Representative Publications   (More Publications)

1. D. Kim, M.A. Overstreet Galeano, A. Hull, and M.L. Miranda, A Framework for Widespread Replication of a Highly Spatially Resolved Childhood Lead Exposure Risk Model, Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 116 no. 12 (December, 2008), pp. 1735-1739
2. W.R. Thomann, M.L. Miranda, M. Stiegel & M. Overstreet, Shared Air: Examining the Contribution of Mold from Home Crawl Spaces to Home Interiors, in Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Bioaerosols, Fungi, Bacteria, Mycotoxins and Human Health (December, 2004)
3. M.L. Miranda, L. Yarger & D. Dolinoy, Childhood Lead Exposure: Effects and Policy Options, in Nicholas School Monograph (April, 2000)
4. M. Miranda, M. Keating, and S. Edwards, Environmental Justice Implications of Reduced Reporting Requirements of the Toxics Release Inventory Burden Reduction Rule, Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 42 (2008), pp. 5407-5414
5. M.L. Miranda, P. Mohai, J. Bus, G. Charnley, E. Dorward-King, P. Foster & W. Munns, Human-Ecological Interconnections: Policy Concepts and Applications, in Interconnections Between Human Health and Ecological Integrity, edited by R. DiGiulio & W. Benson (2002), SETAC Press
6. J.L. Purser, M.N. Kuchibhatla, M.L. Miranda, D.G. Blazer, H.J. Cohen, G.G. Fillenbaum, Geographical segregation and Interleukin-6, a marker of chronic inflammation in older adults, Biomarkers in Medicine, vol. 2 no. 4 (2008), pp. 335-348, ISSN 1752-9363
7. M.L. Miranda, M. A. Overstreet Galeano, E. Tassone, K.D. Allen, R.D. Horner, Spatial Analysis of the Etiology of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis among 1991 Gulf War Veterans, NeuroToxicology, vol. 29 (2008), pp. 964-970 (doi:10.1016/j.neuro.2008.05.005.)
8. M.L. Miranda, D. Kim, A.P. Hull, C.J. Paul, and M.A. Overstreet Galeano, Changes in Blood Lead Levels Associated with Use of Chloramines in Water Treatment Systems, Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 115 no. 2 (2007), pp. 221-225
9. K. Pezzoli, R. Tukey, H. Sarabia, I. Zaslavsky, M.L. Miranda, W.A. Suk, A. Lin, M. Ellisman, The NIEHS Environmental Health Sciences Data Resource Portal: Placing Advanced Technologies in Service to Vulnerable Communities, Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 115 no. 4 (2007), pp. 564-571
10. M.L. Miranda, D. Kim, M.A. Overstreet Galeano, C.J. Paul, A.P. Hull, and S.P. Morgan, The Relationship between Early Childhood Blood Lead Levels and Performance on End of Grade Tests, Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 115 no. 8 (2007), pp. 1242-1247
11. M.L. Miranda, J.M. Silva, M. Overstreet, J.P. Brown, D.S. Campbell, E. Coley, C.S. Cowan, D. Harvell, J. Lassiter, J.L. Parks & W. Sandelé, Building GIS Capacity in Local Health Departments: Lessons from a North Carolina Project, American Journal of Public Health, vol. 95 no. 12 (2006), pp. 2180-2185
12. G. Xia, M.L. Miranda, and A. Gelfand, Approximately Optimal Spatial Design Approaches for Environmental Health Data, Environmetrics, vol. 17 no. 4 (2006), pp. 363-385
13. J. Hays, J. Davis, and M.L. Miranda, Incorporating a Built Environment Module into an Accelerated Second Degree Community Health Nursing Program, Public Health Nursing, vol. 23 no. 5 (2006), pp. 442-452
14. M. Miranda and D. Dolinoy, Using GIS-Based Approaches to Support Research on Neurotoxicants and Other Children’s Environmental Health Threats, NeuroToxicology, vol. 26 no. 3 (2005), pp. 223-228
15. M.L. Miranda and B.W. Hale, Paradise Recovered: Energy Production and Waste Management in Island Environments, Energy Policy, vol. 33 no. 13 (2005), pp. 1691-1702