Dear UCI Community, 

As public health practitioners, we see how place matters to an individual’s health and well-being. I am thrilled to introduce a new faculty member to UCI Public Health who embodies why place matters. Assistant professor of environmental and occupational health, Nicole Sparks, PhD, joins our exceptional faculty body and shares with us why place matters to her, not only as a developmental toxicologist, but also for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Sparks’ research is providing solutions and recommendations that can impact population-level social, biological, and environmental determinants of health and well-being. Please join me in welcoming her to our UCI community and reading about her important research goals below.

Sincerely,

Why representation matters in the field of research
 
As a Black woman in the field of environmental and developmental toxicology, I felt it was my calling to fill a knowledge gap in birth defects research and to be in a space where representation matters. My research focuses on investigating the link between environmental toxicants and embryonic bone development, including tobacco, air pollution, plastic pollution, and flame retardants.
 
Disproportionately, communities of color and low-socioeconomic status often face disparities in birth outcomes from environmental factors such as tobacco smoke and air pollution. Studies have shown that there is a disproportionate number of young non-Hispanic Blacks representing smoking-attributed adverse birth outcomes.
 
My path to becoming a researcher was non-traditional. I originally felt like my skills and passion for science would be best served as a physician. However, when I began to see how the disproportionate exposure to chemicals on embryos, infants, and children could lead to unwanted developmental diseases and disorders – specifically in our most vulnerable populations – I knew I needed to enter the field of public health.
 
Given the large number of chemicals, including phthalates, phenols, pesticides, and halogenated flame retardants, entering the environment each year, the effects of these toxicants on embryonic and bone development should be of grave public concern. It is crucial that we have models that can predict and identify toxicants and their function before involuntary exposure harms our health. Running with the theme set out by Dean Boden-Albala, the state of our physical environment can have profound effects on our health. Our physical place matters to our health and well-being.
 
Through my research, I hope to fill the research void that exists on the role of toxicant-associated skeletal deformations and disorders. Identifying the potential effects of environmental exposure will lead to a better understanding of in-utero exposure and the risk of childhood and adult diseases, ranging from increased risk of orofacial clefts to bone fractures to osteoporosis. By adding to the knowledge base, I hope to inform communities that face health inequity from disproportionate exposure to multiple co-occurring environmental pollutants, adverse climate impacts, and other social and economic stressors.
 
Developmental toxicology is not a new area of research. There are many investigators who have active NIH grants, but an overwhelming number of these investigators focus only on neurodevelopmental and cardiac developmental toxicity. When looking at developmental toxicity research and bone development, the number of researchers significantly decreases. I also suspect that I may be the only Black woman in this research area – and this is why I do this work.
 
As I explore the possibility of identifying a population of people susceptible to toxicant exposure and risk for skeletal-related diseases, I welcome collaboration from fellow public health researchers to not only strengthen my work but also to learn more about the wealth of first-rate, cutting-edge shared research facilities at UCI.