Samantha Romanick, Ph.D.

Samantha, a molecular biologist, is creating an EWG program focusing on plastics in food and consumer products. She hopes to push policy with evidence-based science on the human health harms of microplastics and plastic pollution.

Since 2014, she has taken personal steps to help curb plastic pollution by eliminating plastic waste at home, educating her community on the issue, and launched a small retail business to offer alternatives to household single-use plastic items. Samanatha has also educated high school students about the plastic waste problem and takes part in many community driven sustainability initiatives, including composting and researching microplastic pollution in the Black Rock desert.

Samantha directed her own scientific career to study how microplastics affect human health at the University of Rochester for her postdoctoral training. At the same time, she led the Microplastic Workgroup of Western New York that included more than 70 participants in New York and Canada with an interest in microplastics research.