Celebrating Lorna Rosenberg: Children’s Environmental Health Advocate
By Isabella Andreozzi
Lorna Rosenberg, MSEH is retiring from a career dedicated to applying science to promote public health. Her commitment to environmental health began just after college when she worked as an intern with the Governor of Virginia on a project documenting the environmental impact of a Kepone spill, a pesticide produced by Life Science Products at the time, that contaminated the James River. At the conclusion of her internship, Lorna worked in occupational and environmental health for several years at a chemical manufacturing plant and a waste disposal company. Using her knowledge about waste disposal, Lorna spent a year in Israel learning Hebrew and helping the Israeli government on the development of a trash to steam plant.
After returning to the U.S., Lorna received a Masters in Environmental Health from Drexel University and began her career at the Environmental Protection Agency. Lorna’s initial focus at the EPA was regulatory work related to the Superfund program. Later she worked with industries to implement pollution prevention measures. Through EPA’s Intergovernment Personnel Act that allows for government employees to be loaned out to eligible organizations, Lorna became the executive director of the Delaware Valley Green Building Council, now Green Building United for 3 years. There she facilitated the construction of the first LEED Certified school in Philadelphia.
Through this work, Lorna recognized the value of sustainable building practices and promoting healthy built environments. Lorna collaborated with schools to promote health and wellness, energy and waste reduction in building systems, and environmental education across the mid-Atlantic region. She worked closely with schools to participate in the Green Ribbon program, a public engagement initiative for school sustainability, provided by the Department of Education. Lorna expanded her work to include sustainable building efforts connected to natural disaster recovery in the mid-Atlantic region.
Lorna retired from her position at the Environmental Protection Agency in 2020, leaving the agency with a rich legacy of commitment to environmental public health. Lorna was not done contributing to this field. She jumped in again to work with Women for a Healthy Environment in creating a Philadelphia satellite office for the organization. There Lorna executed impactful work in the childcare community including administering an Indoor Air Quality Study, a PRCCEH funded Shade Structure study, and facilitating over 190 childcare providers to commit to the Eco-healthy Childcare Program. Throughout her work with Women for a Healthy Environment, Lorna was a consistent contributor to the PRCCEH, bringing ideas and applying her work ethic to our Stakeholder Advisory Group. Lorna’s legacy in children’s environmental health is one of relentless translation of best practices from research to real world situations. Lorna is most looking forward to spending time with her granddaughter, making quilts, and volunteering her time in her retirement. We at PRCCEH are very grateful for Lorna, her partnership and her lifetime commitment to children’s environmental health.