Helena Solo-Gabriele is an environmental engineer whose research focuses on studies that relate the environment to human health; her primary faculty appointment at the University of Miami (Coral Gables, FL USA) is in the Department of Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering. At the University, she teaches courses in environmental measurements, water quality, water and wastewater treatment, and in environmental engineering microbiology. Much of her research focuses on understanding the fate and transport of microbes in the coastal zone where she has teamed up with epidemiologists to evaluate human health impacts from bathing and beach sand contact. She participated as a Co-Editor in the first edition of Oceans and Human Health: Risks and Remedies from the Seas (2008). She was a co-Principal Investigator of the NSF NIEHS Oceans and Human Health Center directed by Professors Fleming and Smith at the University of Miami and Principal Investigator of the Beach Exposure and Child Health Study which aimed to evaluate children's exposure to chemical and microbial contaminants during beach play activities. Professor Solo-Gabriele continues to conduct research studies evaluating relationships between microbes in the environment and human health. Most recently her attention has turned to focusing on using wastewater to assess illness rates in communities, in response to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. She hopes to use knowledge gained through this unprecedented pandemic to better understand pathogens in the nearshore environment.