Heidi Pickard is a 5th year PhD Candidate in Environmental Engineering in the Sunderland Lab in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. She researches how chemicals that are released by human activity into the environment interact with natural ecosystems and affect living systems. Her PhD research focuses on using various analytical methods to explore the full extent of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) contamination in the environment and investigate important pathways of exposure to humans with an overarching goal to better understand the persistence and accumulation of PFAS precursors in our food supply.
Heidi is originally from New Brunswick, Canada and she completed a Master's degree in Analytical and Environmental Chemistry at Memorial Univeristy in Newfoundland, Canada. There she researched the atmopsheric transport and deposition of PFAS to remote Arctic environments. Heidi moved to the United States in 2017 to work as a Research Fellow in the Sunderland Lab where she managed the organics laboratory, mentored and trained students, and conducted various sample analyses. She has over 12 years of experience working in environmental chemistry and over 8 years of expertise in PFAS research.
