Charlotte D. Smith is a faculty member of the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, and a Visiting Professor at the Universidad Jesuita de Guadalajara – Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO). Her research interests include the microbial ecology and control of waterborne pathogens, and using geospatial statistics to explore the pathway from environmental exposures, including contaminated water, to acute and chronic diseases (e.g., diarrheal and/or kidney disease). Current community-based participatory research in Guadalajara focuses on access to water as a human right under UN Resolution 64-292. Dr. Smith teaches Introduction to Environmental Health Sciences, Drinking Water and Health, and Applied GIS for Public Health. She is the faculty sponsor for the DeCal, Partners in Health and supervises graduate and undergraduate research.
Dr. Smith holds a BS in Microbiology from the University of Michigan, an MA in Community Health from the City University of New York, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Health Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a member of the United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management – Academic Network of the Americas, GIS Latin America, and the Organization of American States – Pan American Institute for Geography and History. She received the Jorge Matute Remus Award in 2019 and the Zak Sabry Mentorship Award in 2016.
Research Interests
Impact assessment and evaluation of water systems and public health in urban and rural Mexican communities
Central American communities
Microbial ecology of waterborne pathogens
Bacterial endosymbionts of free-living protozoa
Education
PhD – Environmental Health Science University of California, Berkeley