Dr. Jackie MacDonald Gibson’s research addresses the science of environmental risk assessment and decision-making. Much of her research has arisen from questions raised by policymakers and communities, building on 13 years of experience in public policy prior to embarking on an academic career. She served for nine years at the National Research Council’s Water Science and Technology Board, where she was promoted to Associate Director. She also was a Senior Engineer and liaison to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy at The RAND Corp., a nonprofit public policy think tank. Research questions have spanned from understanding the impacts of water pollution on health in local U.S. communities to characterizing the environmental burden of disease across multiple pathways for the United Arab Emirates. Her recent research has focused on uncovering the health impacts of disparities in access to clean drinking water in the United States. She earned Ph.D. degrees from the Department of Engineering and Public Policy and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, an M.S. from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois, and a B.A. in mathematics from Bryn Mawr College.