Maria Rinaldi, PhD, MPH

Maria Rinaldi is a public health practitioner and adjunct faculty member in the University of New England (UNE) Masters of Public Health degree program. She teaches Social and Behavioral Health, serving as the department’s subject matter expert for the course. Prior to her role at UNE, Maria developed and taught the course, Topics in Children and Adolescent Health, at the University of Southern Maine’s School of Public Health. Her work focuses on the intersection of individual and population-level interventions that support health and well-being.

Maria has conducted research in pediatric health. As a doctoral research fellow at the Mayo Clinic, she was the principal investigator for three studies examining the incidence and etiology of peanut allergy over a 10-year period. She also led two projects for the International Breast Milk Project, where she oversaw study design and implementation. Her research has been published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Pediatrics, Breastfeeding Medicine, Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health Care, and Child Poverty in America Today.

In both academic and community settings, Maria is passionate advocate for preventative health and the well-being of individuals, children and families. She is particularly interested in the intersection of clinical practice and macro-level public health interventions that promote positive health outcomes. She designed and implemented a middle school mindfulness initiative, Mindfulness for Emotional Regulation in the Classroom, which reached over 200 students and 12 teachers, grades 5-8.

Maria earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Tufts University, as well as a Master of Public Health and a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Minnesota. She is pursuing a Master’s in Social Work at UNE to further integrate clinical practice with community health.