Sandra Steingraber
American biologist, poet, and essayist. A native of Illinois, Steingraber received her B.A. in biology from Illinois Wesleyan University, her M.A. in English from Illinois State University, and her Ph.D. in biology from the University of Michigan. Since a near-fatal bout with bladder cancer when she was in her twenties, Steingraber has devoted her career to exploring the connections between the environment and human health. Her first book was a volume of intimately personal poems,
Post-Diagnosis (1995). In Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment (1997), she examines the links between industrial chemicals and increased risks of cancer; following its publication, Steingraber was hailed as "the new Rachel Carson" by the Sierra Club. Her most recent book is Raising Elijah: Protecting Our Children in an Age of Environmental Crisis (2011). Steingraber currently teaches at Ithaca College. See also steingraber.com.