Natalie Sampson, Ph.D.

Natalie Sampson, PhD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Public Health at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. She currently serves in many leadership roles in the field of environmental health at the local and national level, including: 

• Chair, American Public Health Association Environment Section 
• Co-lead, Michigan Center on Lifestage Environmental Exposures and Disease Community Engagement Core
• Co-investigator, Community Action to Promote Healthy Environments,
• Co-director, Environmental Health Research to Action, and
• Member, National Council for Environmental Health and Equity

Dr. Sampson works across sectors and disciplines to understand and address the environmental justice implications of land use planning and infrastructure with community, academic, and agency partners. She values diverse ways of knowing through qualitative and quantitative methods, including photovoice and health impact assessment. Through her action-oriented research, Dr. Sampson aims to remove structural inequities in environmental decision-making, build capacity for community and youth-led research, and increase the use of plain language in the field of environmental health. She teaches courses on environmental health and community organizing.

Ph.D. in Health Behavior Health Education, University of Michigan

M.P.H. in Health Promotion, Portland State University

B.S. in Environmental Studies, University of Michigan

1. Sampson, N., Price, C., Bradshaw, M. Freeman, B., & Sampson, M.  (2024). Lessons from a Plain Language Analysis: U.S. Clean Air Act Title V Public Notices as Barriers to Environmental Justice. Environmental Science and Policy, 151. doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2023.103604.
2. Gearhart, J., Xia, T. Mohammed, K., Shim, A., Seo, S., Cooper Sargent, M. Sampson, N., Napieralski, J., Sagovac, S., Batterman, S. (2023). Fugitive dust is not just windblown soil – Impact of scrap metal processing in an environmental justice community, Environments,10 (12), 223. doi.org/10.3390/environments10120223.
3. Cante, T., Okoh, M., Dixon, C., Sampson, N., Dunlap, K., Shafiei, F., Herzmark, J., Tallon, L., Osborne Jelks, N., Tsongas, T., Patel, D., Wilson, O., Persuad, E., Wilson, O., Wilson, B., Martin, V., McLaughlin, K., Asiain, M. (2023). Advancing Environmental Health and Justice: A Call for Assessment and Oversight of Healthcare Waste. Environmental Law, 53: 147-168.
4. Rehr, R., Simcox, N., Osborne Jelks, N., Okoh, M., Hunter, B., Hunter, C., Wilson, O., Wilson, B., Sampson, N., & Harris, G. (2023). Environmental Justice: From Grassroots to the White House.  Environmental Justice.
5. Sampson, N., Sampson, M., Price, C., Almuktar, S., Bashi, A., & Luqman, S. (2022). Plain language as a prerequisite for environmental justice. Environmental Justice. doi.org/ 10.1089/env.2021.0108.
6. MacIver, L., London, J., Sampson, N., Gordon, M., Grow, R., Akaba, A., & Eady, V. (2022) Owning Our Air: Lessons from West Oakland’s engagement with AB 617 for addressing structural environmental racism. American Journal of Public Health, 112:262-270. doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306592.
7. Larson, P.S., Gronlund, C., Thompson, L., Sampson, N., Washington Rodriguez, R., Steis, J., Lyon, N., & Miller, N. (2021). Recurrent home flooding in Detroit, MI 2012-2020: Results of a household level survey. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(14):7659. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18147659.
8. Sampson, N., Price, C., Alwishah, K., Saleh, I., Mahdi, A., Mozip, A., Luqman, S., Archambault, D., Gleicher, S., Norwood, D., Almaklani A.B., Leonard, N, Arouche, A., Tariq, M., Reda, Z. (2021). Building youth capacity to address environmental health and justice concerns in Dearborn, MI. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action, 15(3):401-410. doi.org/10.1353/cpr.2021.0041.
9. Schulz, A.J., Omari, A., Ward, M., Mentz, G., DeMajo, R., Sampson, N., Israel, B.A., Reyes, A. & Wilkins, D. (2020). Independent and joint contributions of economic, social and physical environmental characteristics to mortality in the Detroit Metropolitan Area: A study of cumulative effects. Health and Place, 65:102391.doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2020.102391.
10. Sampson, N., Sagovac, S., Schulz, A., Mentz, G., DeMajo, R., Reyes, A., Vial, B., Gamboa, C. Fink, L., & Rice, K. (2020). Mobilizing for community benefits to assess health and promote environmental justice near the Gordie Howe International Bridge. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(13), 4680. doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17134680.