Congratulations to Professor Miriam Diamond on being named a 2025 President’s Impact Award laureate for groundbreaking scientific research on chemical contaminants that has engaged the public, informed policy and improved protection of human health and global ecosystems.
Laureates of the President’s Impact Awards (PIA) are designated by the University as members of the President’s Impact Academy, which meets to discuss matters relevant to research impact, offers advice to the Vice President, Research and Innovation, and Strategic Initiatives and advocates for sustained excellence in research and innovation impact within and outside of the University.
Professor Miriam L. Diamond is a leading international expert on chemical contaminants in the environment. Her work has uncovered complex pathways of transport and exposure for chemical pollutants, including novel pollutants such as microplastics, microfibers, flame retardants and perfluorinated alkyl acids (PFAS), and has sounded the alarm on the serious threats of chemical pollution to global ecosystems and to human health. Professor Diamond has opened up new avenues of scientific work on exposure pathways including those through everyday household objects that affect some of society’s most vulnerable, including infants, children and marginalized workers. Her highly impactful and highly cited scientific work, in combination with her truly outstanding commitment to public engagement through radio, TV, film and online media, have directly influenced and informed policy development to address the control and elimination of chemical pollutants.
In recognition of these scientific achievements and communication skills, Professor Diamond has held numerous scientific leadership roles including associate editor at the journal Environment Science and Technology, co-chair of Canada’s Chemical Management Plan Science Committee advising senior government officials on managing chemical threats, and co-chair of the Ontario Toxics Reduction Scientific Expert Panel that ushered in provincial legislation to promote pollution prevention. She currently serves in several key international roles, including as a member of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel of the Global Environment Facility; as Vice-Chair of the International Panel on Chemical Pollution, which is helping to develop a global science-policy panel on chemicals; and as an Earth Commissioner of the Global Commons Alliance (Stockholm). Through these appointments, Professor Diamond is using the current science to inform and guide the policy agenda on the management of chemicals globally.