Scientist Linda Birnbaum to receive honorary degree at Unified Commencement

During the 2026 Unified Commencement ceremony, Tulane will confer honorary degrees upon three extraordinary individuals for their remarkable achievements. Linda Birnbaum will receive an honorary Doctorate of Science in recognition of her far-reaching contributions to environmental health, toxicology and public service.

Birnbaum was director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) of the National Institutes of Health, and the National Toxicology Program (NTP) from 2009 to 2019. As NIEHS and NTP director, Birnbaum oversaw a budget of more than $740 million that funded biomedical research to discover how the environment influences human health and disease. The institute also supported training, education, technology transfer, and community outreach and funded more than 1,000 research grants.

A board-certified toxicologist, Birnbaum served as a federal scientist for 40 years. Prior to her appointment as NIEHS and NTP director, she spent 19 years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where she directed the largest division focusing on environmental health research. Birnbaum started her federal career by serving 10 years at NIEHS, first as a senior staff fellow in the National Toxicology Program, then as a principal investigator and research microbiologist and finally as a group leader for the institute's Chemical Disposition Group.

Birnbaum received many awards and recognitions throughout her career. In October 2010, she was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, one of the highest honors in the fields of medicine and health. She was also elected to the Collegium Ramazzini, and received an honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Rochester, and a Distinguished Alumna Award from the University of Illinois.

Birnbaum was also vice president of the International Union of Toxicology, the umbrella organization for toxicology societies in more than 50 countries; former president of the Society of Toxicology, the largest professional organization of toxicologists in the world; former chair of the Division of Toxicology at the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics; and former vice president of the American Aging Association.

She authored more than 700 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and reports. Birnbaum's research focused on the pharmacokinetic behavior of environmental chemicals, mechanisms of action of toxicants including endocrine disruption, and the linking of real-world exposures to health effects. She was an adjunct professor in the Gillings School of Global Public Health, the Curriculum in Toxicology, and the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as in the Integrated Toxicology and Environmental Health Program at Duke University.

A native of New Jersey, Birnbaum received her MS and PhD in microbiology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The 2026 Unified Commencement will be held at Caesars Superdome on Saturday, May 16, at 5 p.m. The ceremony will include live jazz, a graduate second line and a keynote address by Sterling K. Brown, the award-winning actor known for his performances in the television series "This Is Us" and his Oscar-nominated role in the film "American Fiction."