Rita Loch-Caruso (Professor of Toxicology) received her Ph.D. in toxicology from the University of Cincinnati in 1984. She was Assistant Professor of Pediatrics & Human Development at Michigan State University before joining the Toxicology Program in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Michigan. Currently, she directs the Environmental Toxicology Research Training Program, serves on the Environmental Health Sciences Review Committee for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH, chairs the Technical Advisory Board of the Michigan Great Lakes Protection Fund, serves on the Editorial Board of Biology of Reproduction, and is a member of the City of Ann Arbor Environmental Commission. She served on several NIH study sections and has been elected to university, regional and national offices by her professional peers.

She specializes in female reproductive toxicology with a research emphasis on mechanisms of toxicity at the molecular, biochemical and cellular levels of uterine muscle, and integration of this knowledge at the tissue and whole animal levels. She has a particular focus on environmentally persistent chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), lindane and DDT. Major projects involve development of in vitro models for reproductive toxicity study, mechanisms of disruption of uterine muscle gap junctions, toxicant-induced alteration of myometrial intracellular signaling (phosphorylation, calcium, phospholipids), and endocrine-mediated modulation of uterine contraction.