Dr. Madrigal joined the School of Integrated Sciences, Sustainability, and Public Health in the College of Health, Science, and Technology at the University of Illinois Springfield in August 2025. She received her Ph.D. in environmental and occupational epidemiology from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she was a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) fellow. Most recently Dr. Madrigal was an investigator and Independent Research Scholar in the Intramural Research Program of the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute. Over the last decade, Dr. Madrigal¿s research has focused on identifying inequities in exposure to environmental contaminants (e.g., industrial pollution, organochlorine pesticides, metals) and the investigation of these agents as etiologic risk factors for cancer, kidney disease, and asthma among adults and children. She has collaborated on studies with community partners on numerous studies including an evaluation of the associations between heavy metal exposures and pulmonary function, leading analyses to assess internal concentrations of heavy metals among children living in an industrial area and showing that some metals (e.g., manganese) were associated with decreased pulmonary function among these children. Dr. Madrigal is excited about her return to Illinois and to be part of a world class public health program at UIS.