Prior to working at the EPA, McCarthy served as environmental adviser to both Democratic and Republican governors of Massachusetts, and as commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection under a Republican governor. At the EPA, she led the creation of the Clean Power Plan—designed to reduce emissions from power plants—and fought for clean water, increases in the use of renewable energy, and improved efficiency standards for homes and buildings. Dean Williams said that, while at the EPA, “Gina and her colleagues held fast to one foundational principle: that science is the bedrock of environmental policymaking.”

“Today, because of science, smoking deaths are down, lead in our kids’ blood has plummeted, the ozone layer is healing, and dangerous levels of NOx [nitrogen oxides], SOx [sulfur oxides], CO [carbon monoxide], PM [particulate matter]—and acid rain—have been declining for decades,” said McCarthy. “But I need only say ‘Flint, Michigan’ to remind you that there’s a hell of a lot of work left to be done.”

Read more about Commencement 2017:
www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/harvard-chan-gr…