Katherine McNamara

Katherine McNamara (PhD, CIH) is the executive director of the Center for Healthy Climate Solutions at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.

Dr. McNamara has more than two decades of experience working across academic, governmental and private sectors, and has been recognized with national and international awards for her research and mentorship.

At the Center for Healthy Climate Solutions (C-Solutions), Dr. McNamara is working with center colleagues to broaden and increase the impact of the C-Solution's activities in climate research, policy, education, and engagement. Dr. McNamara’s areas of research include assessing traditional workplace and community exposures, in addition to characterizing organizational factors and community characteristics that improve health. She is currently investigating occupational heat fatalities among low wage workers, and evaluating interventions to improve climate change resilience in urban communities.

Prior to joining C-Solutions as executive director, Dr. McNamara was an associate professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at California State University Northridge. Her previous work includes administering OSHA and NIEHS funded training programs at the Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program, and serving in both the Los Angeles and San Francisco Departments of Public Health, following a decade as a private sector consultant. Dr. McNamara earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning from UC Davis, a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the San Francisco Art Institute, and a Doctorate in Environmental Health Science from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.

Dr. McNamara has extensive experience in policy and advocacy, serving as an officer in the American Industrial Hygiene Association and on the Governor’s Interagency Taskforce on Refinery Safety, in addition to collaborating with numerous community and labor organizations on environmental justice and health equity issues.