In collaboration with eight other schools across campus, the UCI Program in Public Health launched a first of its kind, Graduate Student Cluster on Environmental Racism & Health Equity, a fellow program designed to address the disparities that communities of color often face when it comes to exposure of environmental pollutants, climate impacts, upstream social determinants, and related adverse health outcomes.
In addition to UCI Public Health, UCI Social Ecology, Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, Engineering, Business, Humanities, and Social Sciences are also part of this first-ever recruitment tool.
We look forward to seeing the contributions our future fellows wil make to university-wide effors aimed at addressing environmental justice.”
Jun Wu, PhD, Professor of Environmental & Occupational Health & Doctoral Program Director
“We look forward to seeing the contributions our future fellows will make to university-wide efforts aimed at addressing environmental injustice,” said Jun Wu, PhD, professor of public health in the Program’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and project director of this graduate student cluster recruitment. “Their lived experiences and skills will be invaluable to this work, and we will undoubtedly rely on their unique expertise as we move forward in combating these environmental health challenges.”
The Graduate Cluster provides fellows, who are successfully accepted into their respective PhD programs, with structured training in environmental racism and health equity while helping them build their research and professional skills. At the heart of the program is a fundamental focus on community-based participatory research, which emphasizes the full participation of community partners in all phases of a research project. Students receive ongoing mentorship and support from the university and broader community.
