Branche

Christine Branche is principal associate director and director, office of construction safety and health, at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

She earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Rochester and a master’s and PhD in epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At NIOSH, she addresses special problems in the construction sector, coordinating NIOSH’s construction safety and health research, the NIOSH funded national construction center, and university‐based and other external researchers, and coordinating with the directorate of construction in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Her responsibilities include manager for the construction sector program of the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA). She began with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in 1988, and has been with NIOSH, a division of the CDC, since 2007.

She previously worked both in academia and in the private sector in research, medicine, and public health. Christine is a Fellow in the American College of Epidemiology, and is widely sought as a speaker internationally. In 2011, she was recognized as one of 100 Women Making a Difference in Safety by the Safety, Health, and Environmental Profession. Christine, who enjoys vintage films and quilting, is married to Joseph James. They reside in Bowie, MD.