Faculty Profile

Devon Payne-Sturges

Devon Payne-Sturges, Dr.P.H., M.P.H., M.Engr.

  • Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Devon Payne-Sturges research focuses on racial and economic disparities in exposures to environmental contaminants and associated health risks with the aim of improving the science our society uses to make decisions about environmental policies that impact the health of communities and populations, especially vulnerable, low income and minority populations. Dr. Payne-Sturges is currently conducting research applying systems modeling to better understand the links between structural racism, cumulative environmental exposures and health outcomes among children and migrant farmworkers. ​ Dr. Payne-Sturges’s research has been supported with funding from NIEHS, the Environmental Defense Fund, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and UMD’s VPR. APHA’s Environment Section honored her achievements with the 2024 Environmental Health Career Award. Dr. Payne-Sturges earned her MPH and Doctor of Public Health degrees in environmental health sciences from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She values transdisciplinary collaborations to generate the informational bases for establishing environmental policies that are truly protective of public health.

Dr.P.H., Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2002

M.P.H., Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, 1997

M.Engr., Environmental Engineering, University of Virginia, 1990

B.S., Civil Engineering, University of Virginia, 1989

Advancing Policy Solutions for Cumulative Environmental Health Risks & Impacts (CR&I): Dr. Payne-Sturges’s current work includes developing a methodology for conducting cumulative risk assessments under Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that incorporate non-chemical stressors, identifying CR&I regulatory gaps, and evaluating how CR&I can be addressed under existing regulatory frameworks at national and state levels.

Children's Environmental Health Research: Dr. Payne-Sturges is applying systems sciences and community-based system dynamics to uncover structural drivers of cumulative neurotoxic chemical exposures affecting children’s brain development. Current work includes collaboration with community-based organizations in Cleveland and the national consortium Project TENDR.

The RESPIRAR Project: With funding from NIEHS, Dr. Payne-Sturges and her transdisciplinary team are investigating the mechanisms through which institutional policies, regulatory responses and practices, both historic and contemporary, shape respiratory health trends among migrant seasonal farmworkers. The project aims to inform the design of policies and best practices for optimizing the living and working conditions and better health protections among these workers. For more information about the project see https://www.respirarproject.org/

Payne-Sturges D, De Saram S, and Cory-Slechta DA. Cumulative Risk Evaluation of Phthalates Under TSCA. 2023. Environmental Science and Technology, 57(16): p. 6403-6414.  This manuscript received Environmental Science and Technology’s first joint runner-up in the category ‘Policy Analysis‘ in the 2023 Best Paper Awards.

Payne-Sturges DC, Taiwo TK, Ellickson K, Mullen H, Tchangalova N, Anderko L, et al. 2023. Disparities in Toxic Chemical Exposures and Associated Neurodevelopmental Outcomes: A Scoping Review and Systematic Evidence Map of the Epidemiological Literature. Environmental Health Perspectives, 131(9): p. 96001

Payne-Sturges DC, Ballard E, Dilworth-Bart J. 2024. Systems approaches for uncovering mechanisms of structural racism impacting children’s environmental health and development. Early Childhood Research Quarterly. 69: p. S91-S101,

Sieck N, Bruening M, van Woerden I, Whisner CM, Payne-Sturges DC. 2024. Effects of behavioral, clinical, and policy interventions in reducing human exposure to bisphenols and phthalates: A scoping review. Environmental Health Perspectives. 132(3): p. 36001.

View full list of publications at: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7mmPUkAAAAAJ&hl=en

1415 Washington Heights
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Email: [email protected]

For media inquiries: [email protected]

Areas of Expertise: Air Quality,  Child Health,  Community-Based Participatory Research,  COVID-19,  Environmental Health,  Environmental Justice,  Health Equity,  Occupational Health,  Public Health Practice,  Racism,  Respiratory Viruses,  Rural Health