Dr. Handal earned a BA in biochemistry and molecular, cellular and developmental biology from the University of Colorado in Boulder. She earned an MPH in epidemiology-international health and a PhD in epidemiological sciences from the University of Michigan, where she was a Rackham Merit Fellow and a doctoral fellow at the Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture and Health. Handal, a Fulbright scholar, has also received fellowships from: the Division of Epidemiology, Statistics and Prevention Research at the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Md.; the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy; and the New Mexico Center for the Advancement of Research, Engagement and Science on Health Disparities. Handal?s research spans environmental epidemiology, reproductive epidemiology, and child health and development among Latinos and indigenous populations in the U.S. and Latin America. Her research approach uses a health equity lens examining how occupational stress, toxic exposures and difficult social environments relate to maternal health and child development.