Our People
Our team of science and policy experts collaborates with scientists, business and government decision makers, and NGOs for a healthier world
Watch a video on Executive Director Arlene Blum and the history of the Green Science Policy Institute.
Arlene Blum, PhD
Founder and Executive Director
Arlene Blum, biophysical chemist, author, and mountaineer is the Executive Director of the Green Science Policy Institute and a Research Associate in Chemistry at UC Berkeley. Blum’s research and policy work with the Institute has contributed to limiting the use of flame retardant, highly fluorinated, and other harmful chemicals in children’s sleepwear, furniture, electronics, and other products worldwide.
Blum led the first American and all-women’s ascent of Annapurna I, one of the world’s most dangerous and difficult mountains; co-led the first women’s team to climb Denali; and completed the Great Himalayan Traverse. She is the author of Annapurna: A Woman’s Place and Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life.
More info: www.arleneblum.com
Caroline Clarke, MSc
Director of Development & Operations
Caroline Clarke leads the development and operations function at the Institute. She has over two decades of non-profit experience working in the UK, the USA, and India for a range of educational, scientific and environmental health organizations. She holds a BSc and an MSc in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics.
Rebecca Fuoco, MPH
Director of Science Communications
Rebecca Fuoco leads the Institute’s media and communications efforts. Rebecca previously worked as a communications strategist for nonprofit organizations and academic research centers in the health and environmental fields. She holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Cornell University and a master’s of public health degree from UC Berkeley, where she was a Center for Health Leadership Fellow. She is currently working towards her doctor of public health degree at Johns Hopkins University.
Anna Soehl, MSc
Science and Policy Consultant
Anna Soehl holds an MSc in environmental science and policy from Central European University/Manchester University. She previously worked as an air toxics project manager at the Great Lakes Commission, managing federally funded scientific research grant program and as a natural resources planner at the Maryland Department of the Environment’s Science Services Administration.
Seth Rojello Fernández, MSc
Science and Policy Associate
Seth Rojello Fernández received his M.S. in Environmental Toxicology from the UC, Riverside in 2019, where he assessed classes of flame retardants for their overall hazard to human and environmental health. He also holds bachelors degrees from Texas A&M University-Commerce in Political Science and in Environmental Science.
Candy Kasalo
Bookkeeper
Candy is a lifelong accountant whose career spanned 30 years at Hambrecht & Quist brokerage firm and WR Hambrecht + Co., where she served as Controller and CFO. She has a BA in Accounting from Western Michigan University.
Senior Fellows
Joel Tickner, PhD
Professor, Public Health, UMass Lowell; Founder: Change Chemistry (formerly GC3)
Dr. Joel Tickner is a Professor of Public Health at UMass Lowell and an expert on safer chemistry and founder and strategic advisor for Change Chemistry, a value chain organization of more than 100 companies working to advance safer and sustainable chemistry. He advises businesses, government agencies, and non-profits worldwide on strategies to advance safer chemicals. His objective is to create a 20-year roadmap to transform the chemical industry away from harmful chemicals and towards manufacturing processes and products that are safer, more sustainable and eliminate harm to children’s development. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Susan Kegley, PhD
Principal Scientist and CEO, Pesticide Research Institute
Dr. Susan Kegley is CEO, and Founder of the Pesticide Research Institute. She studies the contamination of persistent, bee-toxic pesticides, many of which are chlorinated and fluorinated organohalogens. Some contain PFAS, which can break down into highly persistent trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), now widespread in ecosystems and food. By identifying and reducing the use of persistent organohalogen pesticides, her work addresses contamination at its source, protecting pollinators while also reducing long-term chemical exposures that threaten human and ecosystem health. She has taught at Williams College and U.C. Berkeley and holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from University of North Carolina.
Lauren Heine, PhD
Co-founder: ChemFORWARD, Northwest Green Chemistry, and former co-director Clean Production Action
Dr. Lauren Heine co-chairs Apple's Green Chemistry Advisory Committee and has led the development of ChemFORWARD, GreenScreen, and CleanGredients, three tools for safer chemistry that are all in wide use today. She is currently creating the Detoxifying Plastics Protocol, a globally applicable, science-based standard to identify and eliminate hazardous chemical additives including PFAS, other organohalogens, and toxic metals from plastics. The Protocol is designed to protect human and ecosystem health from harmful additives while facilitating safer, circular plastics. She holds a Ph.D. in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Duke University.
Meredith Williams, PhD
Former Director, California Department of Toxic Substance Control
Dr. Meredith Williams has over two decades of leadership in environmental science and public policy, including as Director of the Department of Toxic Substances Control at CalEPA. She directed the initial implementation of California’s groundbreaking Safer Consumer Products program. She has also held leadership positions at the San Francisco Estuary Institute. Her current work includes designing an integrative approach to identify and reduce public health harms from fossil fuel production, climate change, plastics, and toxic chemistries. She holds a Ph.D. in Physics from North Carolina State University.
Miriam Diamond, PhD
Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto
Dr. Miriam Diamond is an international expert in chemical contaminants source reduction and management, gained from over three decades of conducting research and teaching as a Professor at the University of Toronto. Her research contributes to answering "How can societies transition from current to safer and sustainable practices focusing at a global scale, and with attention to low- and middle-income countries.” Currently she leads chemicals management efforts in international arenas. Her science and policy research has been published in over 250 peer-reviewed articles and has received extensive media attention. She received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry from the University of Toronto.
Board of Directors
David Hochschild – Chair
David Hochschild is the Chair of the California Energy Commission, where he has served since 2013. He has been involved in the solar energy field since serving as Special Assistant to San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown in 2001 when he launched a $100 million initiative to put solar panels on public buildings. He founded the Vote Solar Initiative. He has also served as executive director of a consortium of leading solar manufacturers and as a commissioner at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
Gail Bateson
Gail Bateson’s background is in workplace health and safety focusing on toxic chemical exposures and workers’ rights. She served as Executive Director of Worksafe, an advocacy and policy NGO until 2016 and co-founded the national Occupational Health Internship Program (OHIP). She also worked at the UC Berkeley Labor Occupational Health Program, the Occupational Health Branch of CDPH, and the former Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers Union. She received an M.S. degree from the U.C. Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group.
Martha Geering – Secretary
Martha Geering served as art director and designer of SIERRA Magazine for 23 years, where she curated images for the publication’s 1.3 million readers. In that role she won several prestigious Maggie Awards from the Western Publications Association for exemplary magazine art. She trained at the San Francisco Art Institute and UCLA.
Rebecca Heald
Rebecca Heald is Professor and Co-Chair of the Molecular and Cell Biology Department at UC Berkeley. Her research uses different frog species to investigate mechanisms of cell division and size scaling. She graduated from Hamilton College with a degree in Chemistry, obtained her PhD from Harvard Medical School, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg. Heald is known for postdoctoral mentoring and for promoting diversity and inclusion in the life sciences, and was awarded the Leon K. Henkin Citation for Distinguished Service at UC Berkeley in 2019. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Allen King
Allen King was the co-founder and president of Excellent Packaging & Supply, a wholesale distributor, from 2004-2020. He guided the company to its position as the premier supplier in the United States of innovative, bio-based foodservice disposable packaging that is recyclable by composting. Prior to this, he received an MBA from UC Berkeley, and worked as a senior salesperson at AC Paper & Supply from 1979-2004. He pioneered the use of biodegradable and compostable packaging products in the foodservice marketplace since their introduction in the late 1990’s.
Dean Lobovits
Dean Lobovits is a narrative therapist, author, educator, and ethicist from Berkeley, California. He is co-author of Playful Approaches to Serious Problems and other publications about psychotherapy and ethics and the law. Dean is the former Ethics Chairperson for the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapist and has authored ethical standards and California statutes for his profession.
Susie Medak
Susie Medak is an Executive Coach for nonprofits with a focus on leadership, partnership, and governance. Susie served as Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s managing director from 1990-2022, successfully leading the Theatre and helping create Berkeley’s Downtown Arts District. She served as president of the League of Resident Theatres and treasurer of Theatre Communications Group, representing nonprofit theatres across the nation. Susie is currently a Lecturer at UC Berkeley’s Executive Leadership Institute and Executive Coaching Institute as well as the Interim Managing Director of McCarter Theatre at Princeton.
Craig Rice – Treasurer
Craig Rice worked as an auditor for Ernst & Young before becoming a financial specialist for the insurance industry. The final 15 years of his career were as Vice President of Financial Management at Prudential Financial in Newark, NJ. In addition to his role with the Institute, he serves on the Boards of Central Works Theater Company and Grizzly Peak Cyclists. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Denver.