Tarik Benmarhnia is an environmental epidemiologist with a joint appointment at the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and School of Medicine. He finished his PhD jointly from The University of Montreal and Paris Sud and finished two Master’s degrees, one in Environmental Health Sciences Engineering from the French School of Higher Education in Public Health and another in Pharmacy and Ecotoxicology from Montpellier University in France. He completed his BA in Environmental Sciences from Montpellier University. To further his training, he was an environmental scientist on contaminated soil with the French Railway Company, followed by a Health Scientist position with the French National Institute of Health Education and Prevention, and most recently was a postdoc at McGill University with the Institute for Health and Social Policy.

His research interests include the impact of extreme weather events on human health in the context of climate change and advancing the notion of vulnerability and its implications for public policy. He also develops methodological approaches in order to evaluate the health impact of environmental policies such as climate change adaptation measures and air pollution regulations.

He was recently selected as an associate editor for Environmental Health Perspectives. He also has given several public lectures including at the Fleet Science Center and has been featured in various publications such as Vice, Los Angeles Times, Wired, National Geographic and more.