Beate Ritz, MD, PhD

Beate Ritz conducted Parkinson’s disease (PD) environmental research for the past 25 years. Her lab has focused on common environmental toxicants that play a role in neurodegeneration primarily pesticides and air pollution, as well as metals and more recently other chemicals. Through these efforts, the lab assembled one of the largest and longest running environmental epidemiologic study of PD known as the PEG studies. PEG collected extensive environmental data using California statewide records for pesticide use and air pollution. These studies also uniquely generated high quality disease progression data collected by UCLA movement disorder specialists in the California central valley population. Additionally, the Ritz lab also conducted a large PD study in Denmark known as PASIDA. These studies include applications of gene-environment (GxE), methylation, metabolomics, and microbiome approaches. Employing these omics tools allows for the discovery of biologic signatures and disease related responses to environmental risk factors.