Kim Knowlton
Senior Scientist, Science Office
Kim Knowlton focuses on the public health impacts of climate change and advocates for strategies to prepare for—and prevent—these impacts, especially in vulnerable communities. Her research into the links between climate change and health supports NRDC’s knowledge partnerships with a number of city and state governments in the U.S. and India to strengthen health preparedness in climate adaptation planning. She has studied heat- and air pollution-related mortality and illness, as well as the connections among climate change, infectious illnesses, flooding, aeroallergens, and respiratory ailments such as allergies and asthma. Knowlton was a co-convening lead author on the Human Health chapter of the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment report, and among the researchers who participated in the second and fourth New York City Panels on Climate Change. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, a master’s in environmental and occupational health sciences from Hunter College, and a doctorate in public health from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, where she now serves as an assistant professor in the Climate and Health Program of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. She is based in NRDC’s New York office.
