Adgent A. Margaret, PhD

Research Assistant Professsor
Division of General Pediatrics

Dr. Margaret Adgent is a pediatric epidemiologist with interest in characterizing early life exposures to environmental toxicants and their related health effects, particularly in the context of exploring developmental origins of disease. Dr. Adgent earned her Bachelor’s degrees in Environmental Studies and Biology from the George Washington University and her M.S.P.H from the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a concentration in Environmental Toxicology. Dr. Adgent earned her PhD in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2010. Dr. Adgent completed her postdoctoral training in the Epidemiology Branch at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) where she contributed to the Infant Feeding and Early Development (IFED) Study, a longitudinal study of reproductive development and endocrine disruption in infants exposed to soy-based infant formula. Dr. Adgent has experience in analyzing and interpreting biomarker-based environmental exposure data and is skilled in identifying the approaches and limitations associated with working with such data. Examples of recent research include projects involving perfluorocarboxylic acids in maternal serum, polybrominated diphenyl ethers in breast milk, and personal care/consumer product phenols in infant and adult urine. Dr. Adgent has recently joined the research team of Dr. Kecia Carroll at Vanderbilt University Medical Center as a Research Assistant Professor and will be investigating environmental and nutritional exposures in relation to pediatric asthma.