Sandra Steingraber was born in the United States in 1959. In her 20s, she developed bladder cancer. After her cancer went into remission, she completed her undergraduate degree in biology from Illinois Wesleyan University and her Ph.D. in biology from the University of Michigan. She also holds a master's degree in English from Illinois State University.
Steingraber developed an expertise on the environmental links to cancer and human health with a focus on the health effects of fracking for natural gas. Her highly acclaimed book, Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment, published in 1997, was the first to bring together data on toxic releases with data from U.S. cancer registries. The book was adapted for the screen in 2010.
Steingraber’s other books include Having Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood and Raising Elijah: Protecting Our Children in an Age of Environmental Crisis, both which explore the intimate ecology of pregnancy and reveal the ways in which environmental hazards now threaten each stage of infant and child development. She was also a contributing essayist and editor for Orion magazine.
Steingraber delivered the Beatty Lecture on December 3, 2002, titled "Protecting the First Environment: The Ecology of Pregnancy and Childbirth".
