Ila Cote
Dr. Cote is an Associate Expert at Risk Sciences International, where she brings world-class expertise in environmental health risk assessment, risk management, and science-informed public policy. She contributes to projects that require strategic application of risk methodologies to environmental, occupational, and chemical exposure issues—often at the intersection of regulation, sustainability, and health protection. Her work with RSI benefits from her deep understanding of both U.S. and international regulatory environments and her commitment to advancing decision-making through transparent and defensible science.
Pre-RSI
Dr. Ila Cote is a distinguished environmental health scientist and public policy expert with over 35 years of leadership in risk assessment and environmental management. Her career includes 27 years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where she held key leadership roles in the Office of Research and Development, including Senior Science Advisor, Acting Division Director, and Associate Laboratory Director. Earlier in her EPA tenure, she served as Manager of the Hazardous Air Pollutants Assessment Group and as a staff toxicologist, contributing extensively to human health risk assessments, science policy development, and methods innovation.
Dr. Cote’s experience spans collaboration with international, federal, state, and regional governments, as well as industry and civil society organizations. She has been a trusted advisor to institutions such as the World Health Organization, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and the White House Committee on the Environment and Natural Resources. A skilled science communicator, she has presented to the U.S. Congress, the White House, and diverse public and technical audiences, effectively translating complex science into policy-relevant insights.
Her scholarly work has helped shape modern frameworks for risk science. She has played a leading role in national initiatives such as Next Generation Risk Assessment, and has contributed to technical advancements in benchmark dose modeling, mode-of-action evaluation, and incorporation of molecular and epigenomic data into risk assessment.
Publications associated with Ila Cote
A framework for the next generation of risk science.
The Next Generation of Risk Assessment Multi-Year Study-Highlights of Findings, Applications to Risk Assessment, and Future Directions.
Toxicity testing in the 21st century: progress in the past decade and future perspectives.
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Outside RSI
Dr. Cote remains highly active in academic and policy settings. She is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Colorado in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and a lecturer at Rutgers University, where she teaches risk assessment, environmental health, and public policy. Her current research focuses on the mechanisms of disease—particularly cancer and respiratory disorders—and on improving risk assessment frameworks through emerging science.
She is a prolific author, with more than two dozen influential publications in the past decade alone, including peer-reviewed papers on Bayesian meta-analysis, epigenomics in risk assessment, and advancements in toxicity testing frameworks. She has received EPA’s highest awards for scientific excellence and leadership, and continues to play a thought leadership role in shaping the future of environmental health science.
