As Director of the Center for Health and the Environment, Pinkerton’s goal it to take a holistic approach to better understand the implications of the environment on humans and animals to create policy for better public health and quality of life. Pinkerton’s research interests are in air pollution, climate change and their respective health implications. In the laboratory Pinkerton studies the health impacts of inhaled gases, airborne particles and engineered nanomaterials on the cardiorespiratory and neural systems. Pinkerton also studies the health effects of environmental tobacco smoke on lung growth and development.

Pinkerton has received many honors and awards including the University of California Distinguished Teaching Citation (2008), Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award, School of Veterinary Medicine (2006) and the School of Veterinary Medicine Favorite Teacher Award (Class of 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2003). In 2010, he was a Visiting Professor at Nanjing Medical University, China.