Maria Foraster

Maria Foraster is an Assistant Research Professor at the Barcelona Institute for Public Health (ISGlobal), PhD in Epidemiology (2013), Master in Public Health and Master in Pharmacy. She has worked at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel (Switzerland). She also works as an Associate Professor of Public Health in Universitat Ramon Llull, Barcelona (Spain).

Maria's research focuses on how noise affects health over the life-span, together with co-exposures (e.g. air pollution and restorative factors), and as part of the exposome concept. She has participated in more than 20 competitive international and national projects, mostly about noise, air pollution, cardiovascular health in adults and children’s health. This includes EU-funded projects, e.g. Equal-life, ESCAPE, ENNAH, BREATHE, Air-NB, HERA; and the US-funded FRONTIER project. Currently, she is the work package co-leader and principal investigator in the H2020 EQUAL-LIFE project on the early-life exposome and mental health. She also leads the AXA Research Fund project on socioenvironmental determinants of maternal mental health and newborns’ neurodevelopment during COVID-19. She is the Steering Committee member and work package leader in the Barcelona Life study Cohort (BiSC) on urban environment and early-life development, a new pregnancy cohort in Barcelona, Spain. 

Among others, she has been scientific advisor of the WHO Environmental Noise Guidelines - Cardiovascular Chapter (2018), the Spanish National Plan on environment and health (2021) and the noise abatement action plans of Barcelona City Council.

Contact: maria.foraster@isglobal.org