Health

Dr. Allison Robinson

Allison Robinson has directed her career toward making a better quality of life for Pittsburghers through the environment. Pittsburgh born, raised, and progressing, Dr. Robinson’s career has spanned many different environmental areas in the city.

Now, as the Director of Environmental Initiatives for UPMC, she works with community groups to find a multi-faceted approach to improving environmental health.

UPMC employees planting trees for Arbor Day in CoPgh parks, courtesy of Allison Robinson

Dr. Robinson holds a bachelors degree in math and chemistry, a masters in environmental science and management, and a doctorate in environmental and occupation health. After school, Dr. Robinson worked for a decade as an environmental analytic chemist—analyzing air, water, soil, wastewater, and sludge samples for compliance levels. Then she worked as a community health advocate, pushing for better health outcomes for low-income and under-served communities.

EV charge station at UPMC, courtesy of Allison Robinson

At UPMC, Dr. Robinson is responsible for integrating environmental sustainability practices throughout the company. Under her leadership, UPMC has sponsored community collection events to prevent hazardous materials from entering the water system, including donating unwanted medical materials and medications to local nonprofits. Additionally, Dr. Robinson altered UPMC’s building methods by pushing to use existing spaces before building new ones. UPMC also participates in regional environmental health roundtables and supports industry-relevant regional initiatives.

Earth Day at UPMC, courtesy of Allison Robinson

Dr. Robinson believes that Pittsburgh is progressing by looking towards lessons learned from the past, including fusing efforts towards social equity, economic prosperity, and environmental sustainability for a better city-wide quality of life. In her own words “there needs to be a simultaneous, significant improvement in the region’s health. Sustainability is about maintaining and improving the quality of life for current and future populations. A current healthy population is needed to assure a future healthy population.” Dr. Robinson is working on behalf of UPMC for exactly that healthy population of the future.