Outstanding Young Alumna Award: Amy Padula '96

She credits Springside and her teachers for propelling her along her journey to her current job as Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Services at University of California, San Francisco Division of Maternal-Medicine, Program for Reproductive Health and the Environment. Along this journey, she received several awards: a career development award from the National Institutes of Health, and in April of 2013, she was awarded Outstanding Research Talk by the  Department of Pediatrics at Stanford University. Additionally, Amy has received multiple honors and memberships, delivered countless presentations, and authored more than 20 articles on her research on air pollution, including its relationship to birth outcomes, low birth rates, heart conditions, and birth defects. 

At Springside, Amy remembers this quote on the wall of her Middle School computer room: “Tell me, I will forget. Show me, I may remember. Involve me, I will learn.” She says, “This couldn’t be more true about a Springside education. I think if my teachers had not been so creative with the ways they made learning fun and interesting, I may never have gone on for another 9+ years of school after Springside.”

Those 9+ years include her receiving a BA in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and a master of science degree in Medical Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2010, she perfected her educational trifecta by receiving a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Amy shares, “I became interested in maternal and child health in college, when I was studying anthropology and working on a community service learning that worked to bring healthy food options to West Philadelphia through school gardening and after school fruit stands. My addition was opening up a high school in the evenings for community fitness night. We staffed it with volunteers and had the pool and gym open with group fitness and cooking classes.”  

When I moved to San Francisco (without a job), I searched for a few months before I found a job as a research assistant at the VA Medical Center. It was there that I worked with two physicians who took me under their wing and taught me about epidemiology as I worked on a clinical trial. I really treated my job like any other school project. Enjoy the people you’re working with and solve problems. Most of my work so far has been on the effects of air pollution during pregnancy on birth outcomes—low birth weight, preterm birth, and birth defects. I’m also starting some projects on endocrine disrupting chemicals and their effects during pregnancy. Though I am a professor now, I haven’t stopped taking classes. I am currently taking German, so that I can communicate more with my husband’s family.”

Before she received her PhD, Amy became a research associate at the University of California, San Francisco in the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center from 2001 to 2005. After the VA, Amy became a graduate student instructor at Berkeley for a year, and then for two years, she was an analyst at Kaiser Permanante Center for Health Research. She was a graduate student researcher back at Berkeley for the next three years where she also received her PhD and where she was a postdoctoral fellow at Berkeley and then a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford.

SCH school nurse Nancy Padula, Amy’s mother, shares our pride and adds three separate and wonderful anecdotes about Amy.  A few years ago, Amy did a bike ride from San Francisco to LA—riding over 100 miles a day—to benefit AIDS research. She also received a million dollar grant from the NIH for her research while she was working at Stanford! Finally, several years ago, the New York Times called her on April 1st to say they were writing an article on her. Amy didn't believe them and thought it was just an April Fool's joke. She thought it was one of her friends and it took her an embarrassing moment to recover. 

Here’s how Amy describes herself: “I’ve always wanted my life to be like the Title 9 Sports catalog where the women have little blurbs about their mix of professional, family, and sport activities. My sports have changed over the years—from field hockey, squash, and lacrosse, to rock climbing and surfing, then running and biking, and now swimming and karate. My blurb would be: When I’m not practicing karate with my husband or taking walks with my beagle, Nutmeg, I am found doing research on the effects of pollution on the health of children.”

This award is given to someone who has a demonstrated excellence in their career and/or service to the community.  Amy’s impressive journey has landed her as an expert in her field of pregnancy and exposure to air pollution and as an invaluable resource for others in the science and health communities. None of this comes as a surprise to anyone who knew her during her time at Springside. We delight in her accomplishments and we are inspired by her current modus operandi that holds true to an SCH education today: Enjoy the people you’re working with and solve problems. Good advice for all!