Dr. Beate Ritz is a professor in the department of epidemiology and environmental health at the UCLA School of Public Health, and in the department of neurology at the UCLA Geffen School of Medicine. Ritz is also a member of the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, the NIEHS-UCLA-USC Environmental Health Science Center, and a participant in the UCLA EPA-Particle Center effort. She is the co-director of the NIEHS-funded UCLA Center for Gene-Environment Studies in Parkinson's Disease. Her primary interests are the effects of occupational and environmental toxins such as pesticides, ionizing radiation, and air pollution on chronic diseases like cancer and neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson's disease. Currently, Ritz is studying the effects of air pollution on adverse birth outcomes in Southern California and investigating the long-term effects of pesticide exposures on Parkinson's disease and cancers. She has published on Parkinson's disease in California, on air pollution and birth defects, and on the links between living near high-traffic areas and adverse birth outcomes.