Amy Padula '96

Amy has been on an incredible trajectory since her graduation from Springside in 1996, and we have expected nothing less from this wonderful young woman whose journey has established her as an expert on environmental exposures during pregnancy.

She credits Springside and her teachers for propelling her along her journey to her current job as Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Services at University of California, San Francisco Division of Maternal-Medicine, Program for Reproductive Health and the Environment. Along this journey, she received several awards: a career development award from the National Institutes of Health, and in April of 2013, she was awarded Outstanding Research Talk by the  Department of Pediatrics at Stanford University. Additionally, Amy has received multiple honors and memberships, delivered countless presentations, and authored more than 20 articles on her research on air pollution, including its relationship to birth outcomes, low birth rates, heart conditions, and birth defects. 

She has received a BA in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and a master of science degree in Medical Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2010, she perfected her educational trifecta by receiving a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Before she received her PhD, Amy became a research associate at the University of California, San Francisco in the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center from 2001 to 2005. After the VA, Amy became a graduate student instructor at Berkeley for a year, and then for two years, she was an analyst at Kaiser Permanante Center for Health Research. She was a graduate student researcher back at Berkeley for the next three years where she also received her PhD and where she was a postdoctoral fellow at Berkeley and then a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford.

This award is given to someone who has a demonstrated excellence in their career and/or service to the community.  Amy’s impressive journey has landed her as an expert in her field of pregnancy and exposure to air pollution and as an invaluable resource for others in the science and health communities. None of this comes as a surprise to anyone who knew her during her time at Springside.