I’m an applied scientist with expertise in health data, epidemiology, biostatistics, toxicology, and environment.
I work for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a Prevention Effectiveness (PE) Postdoctoral Fellow in the Environmental Public Health Tracking Branch, where I support data products and lead studies on the relationship between environmental exposures and population health. My academic training includes:
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Environmental Epidemiology - Harvard University
PhD, Environmental Toxicology - University of Washington
Master of Public Health - UCLA
BS, Biological Sciences; BA, History - University of California, Irvine
More detail on my background:
I completed a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in environmental epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in the Department of Environmental Health. During my time at Harvard I led studies on the link between phthalates (a class of synthetic chemicals) and complex women’s health outcomes, including hot flashes (publication here) and sex steroid hormone concentrations (publication here). Additionally, I coauthored a review of environmental justice research methods (publication here), and contributed to educational material for Columbia University’s Environmental Justice Boot Camp. I also served as a postdoc mentor in Harvard’s Summer Program in Epidemiology & Biostatistics, which provides education and research opportunities to undergraduates from underrepresented groups.
My PhD is in Environmental Toxicology from the University of Washington (UW) School of Public Health’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences. My doctoral research was a longitudinal epidemiological study within the Home Air in Agriculture Pediatric Intervention (HAPI) Trial (publication here). My dissertation examined the relationships between phthalates, inflammation, and asthma exacerbation (publication here), as well as corresponding pathophysiological mechanisms including oxidative stress (publication here). While at UW, I also completed a 2-year NIH-sponsored predoctoral traineeship in Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Bioinformatics and assisted in teaching 7 courses for both undergraduate and graduate students. I contracted as a technical writer with the American College of Medical Toxicology during doctoral study as well.
My Master of Public Health (MPH) degree is from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, for which I completed a summer internship at the UCSF Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, and earned the Leaders in Sustainability Graduate Certificate from the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. During my MPH I was employed by the Institute for Society and Genetics as a teaching assistant, and by the Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center as a research analyst. I went on to contract as a research associate for the UCLA Sustainable Technology and Policy Program while I transitioned to my doctoral program at UW.
I hold a BS in Biological Sciences and BA in History from UC Irvine, with an Anthropology minor and Certificate in Law and Policy.
Before graduate study, I worked as an education assistant for The Ecology Center, and as a project assistant for a pre-clinical and clinical trial testing laboratory.
Check out some of my research, or get in touch.