Dr. Carmen Marsit is Rollins Distinguished Professor, Executive Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Research Strategy at the Rollins School of Public Health, and is co-lead of the NEXUS Emory University Collaborative Hub. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms that underlie the developmental origins of health and disease utilizing state-of-the-art genomic and epigenomic tools.
Through the development of the Rhode Island Child Health Study and through collaborations with additional cohorts both domestically and internationally, he has pioneered examinations of the role of the placenta in mediating the impacts of the pregnancy environment on children’s health.
Dr. Marsit has led a continuously NIH funded research program in children’s health for nearly 20 years and has published over 400 peer reviewed manuscripts. He broadly interprets the environment to include the chemical, physical, internal, and social factors that impact health, and applies this philosophy as the Director of the NIEHS supported Emory HERCULES Exposome Research Center (P30), which takes a holistic approach to understanding the impacts of the environment and supports the environmental health research community across Emory and Georgia Tech. He also directs the T32 Training Program in the Environmental Health Sciences and Toxicology, and is committed to the education, training, and mentorship of the next generation of researchers.
Dr. Marsit received his PhD in the Biological Sciences in Public Health at Harvard University, which was followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health. Prior to joining the faculty in the Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health at Emory in 2016, he held faculty appointments in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Brown University (2007-2011), and in Pharmacology and Toxicology and Epidemiology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth (2011-2016).
Fun Fact:
Carmen is a dog Dad to a Wheaton Terrier named Koby, and in January 2026 will be welcoming a new Schnoodle puppy into the family.