Rate My Professor Michele Morrone

Michele Morrone, Ph.D., REHS, is Professor of Environmental Health Science in the Department of Social and Public Health, College of Health Sciences and Professions, at Ohio University. She earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Planning from The Ohio State University between 1989 and 1994 and her M.S. from the University of New Hampshire. A credentialed food safety professional, Morrone previously served as Chair of the Department of Social and Public Health, Director of the Appalachian Rural Health Institute, and Chief of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Environmental Education. She coordinates the nationally accredited Environmental Health Science B.S. program and is a member of the Ohio Center for Ecology and Evolutionary Studies. In 2012, she received a Fulbright Scholar award for developing environmental health curriculum at the University of Montenegro.

Morrone's research centers on environmental health in Appalachia, health disparities, risk perception, environmental justice, and food safety, with a focus on the relationship between environmental contamination and human health outcomes, including disproportionate exposures in low-income areas. Her key publications include the authored book Ailing in Place: Environmental Inequities and Health Disparities in Appalachia (Ohio University Press, 2020); co-edited volumes Mountains of Injustice: Social and Environmental Justice in Appalachia (2011, with Geoffrey L. Buckley), From Surviving to Thriving in Appalachia: Place, Passion, and Possibilities (2021, with T. Arnold), and Food Safety: A Reference Handbook (with Nina E. Redman); as well as recent peer-reviewed articles such as 'Measuring the Effectiveness of Environmental Health Practice: An Exploratory Analysis' (Journal of Environmental Health, 2024), 'Environmental Health Academic Programs: Looking Back and Moving Forward' (2024), 'Artificial Intelligence in Environmental Health: Education and Practice' (2024), and 'COVID and Environmental Health' (chapter in COVID-19 and Public Health: Global Responses to the Pandemic, 2024). With over 360 citations across 23 publications, her scholarship has influenced discussions on Appalachian environmental issues. Morrone has engaged in public outreach through media placements in USA Today, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, and The Columbus Dispatch, and lectures such as Authors @ Alden.