Environmental hazards come in many forms, from extreme events like natural disasters to toxic substances like heavy metals, chemicals in consumer products, air pollutants, and radiation, all of which threaten human health and well-being. Public health aims to assess these hazards through related disciplines like toxicology, inhalation science, dosimetry, and more.
Scott Bartell, MS, PhD
Research Interests
For the past 25 years, Bartell has dedicated his research to quantifying human exposures and health effects caused by environmental contaminants, including perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) – specifically the presence and epidemiology of PFAS in U.S. water sources. His graduate students produce impactful research on these topics, publishing first authored papers in high quality, peer-reviewed journals including Environmental Health Perspectives, Environmental Science & Technology, Environmental Research, and Journal of Exposure Science And Environmental Epidemiology.
Andrea De Vizcaya Ruiz, PhD
Research Interests
She has over 50 peer-reviewed publications, in addition to 10 book chapters and short reviews on toxicology. De Vizcaya-Ruiz also has active interdisciplinary collaborations with other research groups in Mexico, the Netherlands, Canada, and across the U.S.
In addition to her role as Professor, De Vizcaya-Ruiz also participates in several research initiatives across the university. These include the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH), Air Pollution Health Effects Lab (APHEL), and UCI Atmospheric Integrated Research unit (AirUCI). Outside of her various roles at UCI, she has also participated as an advisor for the Mexican Ministry of Health, the Mexican Ministry of Environment and the Mexico City Government to help establish guidelines on air pollution and regulation of nanomaterials safety. She also serves as a member of the Editorial Board of Particle and Fibre Toxicology and as an active member of the US Society of Toxicology and the Mexican Society of Toxicology.
Rufus Edwards, PhD
Research Interests
Some of Dr. Edwards’s research interests are human exposures to air pollution, indoor air pollution, paint emissions, and emissions of climate-altering pollutant species.
Marion Fedoruk, MD
Research Interests
Marion Fedoruck research interest includes exposure to biological contaminants.
Masashi Kitazawa, PhD
Research Interests
Kitazawa’s primary research emphasis centers on understanding the molecular pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and the impact of neuroinflammation elicited endogenously by disruption of normal immune responses by aging or by exogenous environmental factors, such as chronic exposure to environmental chemicals and toxicants. By using multiple experimental platforms including transgenic mouse models of the disease, primary cultures and established cell culture models, and organotypic slices, my laboratory is investigating key cellular signaling cascades in microglia and astrocytes that are dysregulated in early phase of AD.
Michael Kleinman, MS, PhD
Research Interests
Kleinman’s research focuses on the mechanisms of cardiopulmonary injury following inhalation of toxic compounds. His laboratory uses state-of-the-art methods to evaluate the roles of free radicals and oxidative stress in sensitive human volunteers and laboratory animals. In vitro methods are used to evaluate specific mechanisms. Other interests include analytical and atmospheric chemistry, environmental sampling and analysis, and the application of mathematical and statistical methods to environmental and occupational assessments of exposure and risk.
Alana LeBrón, MS, PhD
Research Interests
Her research interests include structural racism and health, health of Latino/a communities, and community-based participatory research.
Karen Lincoln, PhD, MSW, MA, FGSA
Research Interests
Dr. Lincoln is a social worker with a joint degree in social work and sociology. Reflecting her interdisciplinary training, her scholarship is grounded in theories and methods developed in the fields of social work, sociology and psychology. She has applied these principles to identify factors that both harm and promote mental health and well-being among Black Americans.
Dr. Lincoln is the only scholar nationally who has systematically contributed to the literature on the impact of negative interaction (e.g., conflict, excessive demands, manipulation) on mental health among African American and Caribbean Black adults. Her efforts have 1) advanced our understanding of the impact and modeling of social support and negative interaction on mental health among diverse populations, 2) identified negative interaction as a particularly important risk factor for mental health among vulnerable populations, and 3) documented within-and between-group differences with respect to risk and protective factors associated with a variety of mental health outcomes among diverse populations.
Ulrike Luderer, MD, PhD, MPH
Research Interests
Dr. Luderer’s research interests include the mechanisms by which toxicants and ionizing radiation disrupt reproductive function and uncovers protective mechanisms that prevent reproductive dysfunction. This includes how exposures during prenatal development cause premature ovarian failure and ovarian cancer in the directly exposed offspring, as well as subsequent generations.
Lisa Grant Ludwig, PhD
Research Interests
Some of Dr. Ludwig’s research interests include earthquakes and related geohazards, the San Andreas fault, disaster resilience, public health and earthquake policy.
Oladele Ogunseitan, PhD
Research Interests
Some of Ogunseitan’s research interests are global health and development, toxic environmental pollution, microbial diversity, ecology, and health.
David Richardson, PhD
Research Interests
Some of Dr. Richarson’s research interests include the health effects of occupational and environmental exposures as well as injury surveillance and development of novel methods for epidemiology.
Nicole Sparks, MS, PhD
Research Interests
Sparks focuses on a unique area of research looking at environmental toxicants, such as using and exposure to tobacco products, impact on a fetus’ development. Sparks’ lab uses stem cell and animal models to observe how a toxicant can change microRNA and mRNA expression levels that cause an embryonic osteoblast (bone-forming cell) defect.
Veronica Vieira, DSc
Research Interests
Dr. Vieira’s research interests include spatial epidemiology, environmental epidemiology, environmental disparities and exposure modeling. Vieira has an extensive knowledge of GIS, groundwater modeling, cluster detection methods, and on persistent environmental contaminants including tetrachloroethylene (PCE, a dry-cleaning solvent), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, a perfluorinated compound (PFC) involved in the manufacturing of Teflon), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs, a common class of flame retardants). Components of her work include improving methods for geocoding rural addresses using GIS and examining the relationship between PFOA exposures and health outcomes. Vieira’s research also includes method development for spatial epidemiology such as disease mapping, cluster detection, and space-time interactions.
Jun Wu, PhD
Research Interests
Dr. Wu is focused on population-based research of environmental exposure assessment, environmental epidemiology, and environmental health disparity. She also works with local and regional community partners on environmental justice issues related to air pollution, soil contamination, and climate change.
View her personal research website.
