About Us

Michael Green
Executive Director
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Michael promotes the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) to raise public awareness of the corporate use of toxic chemicals and of the many viable, pragmatic solutions to this pervasive threat to public health. He founded CEH in 1996 and since then has helped lead national efforts to stop toxic exposures and protect public health. He has also pioneered the groundbreaking legal work that has won landmark victories to protect the public from hazardous consumer products and toxic emissions. Michael has worked in Washington D.C. for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management, and the US EPA's Working Group on Environmental Equity. Michael designed a solid waste management plan for the Tibetan refugee community in Dharamsala, India, and cared for the sick at Mother Teresa's mission in Calcutta, India. He was awarded the California Wellness Foundation's annual Leadership Award, as well as the prestigious Compassion in Action Award which is presented jointly from the Dalai Lama Foundation and the Committee of 100 for Tibet each year. He has testified in front of Congress, serves on numerous boards of directors, and is frequently quoted in national and international media. Michael has an MS in Natural Resources and an MPP in Public Policy, both from the University of Michigan.

Charlie Pizarro
Associate Director
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Charlie supervises the operations of CEH. Before coming to the organization, he spent twelve years helping attorneys unearth and decipher the facts necessary to defend people facing the death penalty. In this little-known corner of the law, human rights advocates witness the unfortunate collision of the most pressing social justice issues of our day – race, poverty, employment, education, health, and of course, the environment. He is pleased to contribute to solutions to the environmental ills that have devastated the lives of countless families and communities across the nation.

Charles Margulis
Communications Director and Food Program Director 510.655.3900 x305

Charles coordinates CEH's efforts to promote sustainable and organic food to hospitals and other major institutional food buyers. He also manages CEH's media outreach. Prior to joining CEH, Charles was the lead campaigner for Greenpeace USA's Genetic Engineering Campaign for five years. He currently serves as CEH's representative on the Steering Committee of Californians for GE Free Agriculture. He is also a board member of the Sunshine Project, an international nonprofit that works to expose the hostile use of biotechnology in weapons development and to strengthen the global consensus against biological warfare. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley in Peace and Conflict Studies. He is also a graduate of the California Culinary Academy and was a long-time professional baker.

Sue Chiang
MPP, MPH, Pollution Prevention Director
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Sue leads CEH's work to create market incentives for the electronics industry to design, manufacture, and dispose of their products in a way that protects public health. Before she joined CEH, Sue was a consultant to the San Francisco Foundation's Environmental Health and Justice Initiative and was a community health advocate at Greenaction. Sue was also the program coordinator of the California Urban Environmental Research & Education Center (CUEREC), which works to support applied environmental research at the grassroots level. Sue also spent over four years at Environmental Defense researching community right-to-know issues, investigating Proposition 65 cases, and conducting grassroots outreach for EDF's Chemical Scorecard. Sue received a B.A. degree in environmental science from Barnard College, Columbia University and completed a double-masters program at University of California Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy and the Graduate School of Public Health.

Jody Parsons
Executive Assistant
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Jody Parsons is the Executive Assistant at CEH. She brings a wealth of experience in non-profit and public administration, most recently as the Development Director at Brighter Beginnings, a family support agency in the East Bay. She spent 12 years in Monterey County as Alcohol and Drug Programs Administrator for the Health Department and as Administrative Aide for the Fifth District Supervisor. Prior to that, Jody was Contra County Manager for United Way of the Bay Area. She started her career in corporate social responsibility advocacy and is thrilled to be working in the field again. She has a Master of Divinity from Pacific School of Religion and a B.A. in Sociology from Macalester College.

Christine Cordero
Bridging Environmental Health and Justice
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Christine leads CEH's work to connect environmental health issues to communities most directly impacted by toxic exposures.  Christine works in partnership with community-based organizations and coalitions to create synergy between the environmental health and justice movements.  Before joining CEH, Christine was a program assistant at The California Wellness Foundation in the areas of Environmental Health and Work & Health.  She also has experience in youth and labor organizing, having worked for C-Beyond: Youth Making History to address education issues and with SEIU on the Justice for Janitors campaign.  For six years, Christine served on the Board of Directors (and now the Advisory Board) of the Filipino/American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity (FACES), an intergenerational organization that works for environmental justice in the U.S. and the Philippines.  Christine received her B.A. in Linguistics from Stanford University, with a focus on language and power.

Caroline Cox
Research Director
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Caroline leads CEH's research on toxic exposures, identifying, analyzing and substantiating the scientific bases for our work to eliminate threats to children and others exposed to dangerous chemicals in consumer products. Previously, she worked for sixteen years as staff scientist at the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP) in Oregon. She was also editor of NCAP's Journal of Pesticide Reform and has co-authored numerous papers in scientific journals. Caroline represents CEH on the Steering Committee of Californians for Pesticide Reform and currently serves as a public interest representative to the U.S. EPA's Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Beyond Pesticides. She writes and speaks regularly as a national expert on the toxicity of and alternatives to pesticides. Caroline has a master's degree in entomology from Oregon State University and is a graduate of Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.

PJ Johnson
Financial and Administrative Manager
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For the past five years PJ has seen to CEH's Finance, Administrative, Human Resource, and Information Technology needs. Previously he worked with at-risk teenage girls at Above the Line as a group home counselor. PJ employs humor, attention to detail, and grace under pressure to balance his roles and meet organizational goals. PJ is a graduate of University of California Santa Cruz with degrees in Community Studies (LGBT focus) and Theater Arts (Modern Dance focus).

Judy Levin
Pollution Prevention Coordinator
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Judy works to shift Bay Area hospitals to environmentally preferable purchasing practices, particularly for electronics. Before coming to CEH, she was the co-founder of Family Support Services of the Bay Area and has worked in the non-profit arena for 25 years. Judy received her B.A. degree in social work from the University of California at Berkeley and her Masters Degree in social work from the University of Michigan.