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Dear UCI community,
I want to first welcome all our incoming UCI Public Health students and all the new students across the university. As we begin another academic year here at our beautiful campus, it struck me how much: place matters.
And what I mean by place matters, these are the places where we work, where we live, and where we play. Over the last two decades, public health practitioners have recognized that place matters to an individual’s health and well-being – otherwise known as their social determinants of health.
Social determinants of health lead to health disparities. For example, you have two individuals who live in different environments (urban and suburban), who may experience the same disease (i.e., cardiovascular disease) in very different ways, depending on their risk factors, recovery time, and death rates.
Over the next few months, we will introduce what UCI Public Health is doing to peel back the layers to better understand the causes of health disparities in our society. And what we are doing to provide solutions and give recommendations that can impact population-level social, biological, and environmental determinants of health and well-being.
Place matters when seeking out the finest public health education. Over the last decade, UCI has become a sought-after academic destination, evidenced by placing 8th in the nation among public universities. A destination where our students can flourish, where our faculty can contribute to knowledge in their respective fields, and where our neighboring communities can benefit from UCI healthcare, UCI culture, and UCI’s economic drivers.
For those of us at UCI Public Health, we have benefited from being a part of this exceptional research university. Interdisciplinary research and training around environmental health disparities are likely to be enhanced on a campus which values sustainability (No. 2 in Sierra magazine’s 2021 ‘Cool Schools’ ranking of sustainability leaders). Leading in diversity, equity, and inclusion (ranked No. 3 by WSJ for diversity), sets a foundation to establish partnerships with our communities to improve health and well-being for all.
We have been able to assemble an exceptional faculty body and professional pipeline of future leaders who are prepared to address the public health challenges of our time. And we are using that strong UCI presence, along with our expertise, to improve our community’s health.
As we move through the Fall quarter, I encourage you to value those places where you live, work, and play. I know I do. And I challenge you to ask yourselves what you can do to make your community and your campus a healthier place for all.
Sincerely,
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Bernadette Boden-Albala, MPH, DrPH
Director and Founding Dean
UCI Program in Public Health
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UCI Public Health strives to improve the health and well-being for all populations. Much of our research is focused on identifying health disparities in our Hispanic communities in order to provide solutions and inform policy to work towards health equity. Below is a recent overview of research done in our Latinx communities:
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The impact of Medicaid funding structures on inequities in health care access for Latinos in New York, Florida, and Puerto Rico
A study co-authored by Dylan Roby, PhD, associate professor of health, society, and behavior, revealed that limited Medicaid eligibility and capped funds contribute to reduced health care access for Latinos in New York, Florida and Puerto Rico.
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Food insecurity, diabetes, and perceived diabetes self-management among Latinos in California: Differences by nativity and duration of residence
Findings from a study led by recent PhD graduate and corresponding author Brandon Osborn and faculty mentor Annie Ro, PhD, suggest that food insecurity is an important factor that influences Type II Diabetes susceptibility for US-born Latinos and longer-stay Latino immigrants.
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Effect of socioeconomic factors during the early COVID-19 pandemic: A spatial analysis
Significant risk factors and areas of increased risk were identified in Orange County and results suggests that social and environmental factors contribute to the spread of COVID-19 within communities, according to a study by corresponding author and recent PhD graduate Ian Tang and faculty mentor Veronica Vieira, PhD, professor and chair of environmental and occupational health.
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Patterned Outcomes, Unpatterned Counterfactuals, & Spurious Results:Perinatal Health Outcomes Following COVID-19
A study co-authored by Tim Bruckner, PhD, professor of health, society, and behavior, assessed the methods used in epidemiological literature about the indirect or secondary effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on pregnant people and gestation.
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Occupational Health Expert, Ulrike Luderer, Invited to Speak at Two Summer Conferences
Ulrike Luderer, PhD, professor of environmental and occupational health, spoke at two recent industry events: The FASEB Conference on Reproductive Aging, and at the Society for the Study of Reproduction Annual Meeting.
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CDC Workshop on Applied Epidemiology and Environmental Health
Scott Bartell, PhD, professor of environmental and occupational health, presented on a CDC Workshop on Applied Epidemiology and Environmental Health. Specifically, Bartell spoke about: "Using Group-Level Variables in Epidemiology," which can be viewed on YouTube.
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Veronica Vieira serves as co-author and committee member for new PFAS Guidelines
Veronica Vieira, PhD, professor and chair of environmental and occupational health, served an integral role in the newly released “Guidance on PFAS Exposure, Testing, and Clinical Follow-up,” which was developed by the National Academies: Science, Engineering, & Medicine. According to the guidelines, people at high risk of PFAS exposure should be tested for adverse health effects.
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Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in drinking water and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) in the United States during 2013–2015
In their recent study, doctoral candidate and corresponding author Yachen Zhu and Scott Bartell, PhD, professor of environmental and occupational health, analyzed over 8 million U.S. births during 2013–2015 to reveal a weak association between HDP and four common PFAS or "forever chemicals".
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UCI study links prenatal exposure to common pollutant and ovary damage in mouse fetuses
Cancer-causing compound, benzo[a]pyrene, can destroy ovarian cells during early and later pregnancy, according to a study led by Ulrike Luderer, PhD, professor of environmental and occupational health and recent PhD graduate Kelli Malott.
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Jun Wu: Earth Guardian
Jun Wu, PhD, professor of environmental and occupational health, tracks air pollution, particularly in underserved communities, to present stakeholders such as health officials and civic leaders with information and potential solutions.
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Exploring the Mind-Body Connection
Joel Milam, PhD, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics in UCI’s Program in Public Health, has added a “Happiness, Well-Being and Health” course to the spring catalog so that students can explore and understand the “psychological, social and behavioral factors that influence physical, mental/emotional and social well-being.”
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Differentiating between liver diseases by applying multiclass machine learning approaches to transcriptomics of liver tissue or blood-based samples
Corresponding author, Trina Norden-Krichmar, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics, identified gene biomarkers for inflammatory liver disease by using a machine learning computational approach, instead of multiple invasive tests by comparing samples from participants with alcohol-associated hepatitis, alcohol-associated cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis C infection, and non-alcohol-associated fatty liver disease.
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Frequent consumption of fast food associated with higher risk of obesity-related chronic disease and significantly higher odds of fatty liver disease
A study led by corresponding author Andrew Odegaard, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics, found that middle-aged adults who ate fast food more frequently over the previous 25 years have significantly higher odds of metabolic-associated fatty liver disease and intra-abdominal adipose tissue, a type of abdominal fatty tissue that is associated with poor current and future cardiometabolic health.
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Longer time lived in U.S. associated with higher risk of cardiometabolic abnormalities among Chinese and Korean Americans, according to UCI-led study
According to a study by corresponding author Brittany Morey, PhD, assistant professor of health, society, and behavior, longer time lived in the U.S. is associated with higher risk of cardiometabolic abnormalities like high triglyceride levels, high cholesterol, and diabetes among Chinese and Korean Americans.
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Dean Boden-Albala lead speaker for Annual NIH StokeNet Conference
Bernadette Boden-Albala, MPH, DrPH, founding dean and professor of health, society, and behavior, presented at the annual NIH StrokeNet Conference. Boden-Albala chairs the Minority Recruitment and Retention Committee. She presented on a proposal to shift StrokeNet's approach to inclusion in its clinical trials.
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Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings before the 2020–21 winter surge of COVID-19 in the United States
Findings from a study by corresponding author, Tim Bruckner, PhD, professor of health, society, and behavior, determined that racial/ethnic minorities, and non-Hispanic Black adults appeared least likely to have have engaged in risky holiday gatherings in late 2020 and may have reduced the intensity of the 2020/21 “winter surge” in COVID-19. Co-authors include Abhery Das, PhD in Public Health candidate.
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UCI-led study identifies social media strategies to educate young adults on vaccine effectiveness and accessibility
A research team led by Suellen Hopfer, PhD, assistant professor of health, society, and behavior, conducted a 4-month observational study to determine effective social media strategies for broadcasting narrative HPV vaccine intervention videos across three platforms: Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter.
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Window Into the Body
Co-directed by Michael Hoyt, PhD, associate professor of population health and disease prevention, and Jenna Riis, PhD, an affiliated faculty member, lead the Institute for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research (IISBR), which is championing the use of spit in diagnostics and to help understand the health and well-being of communities.
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Advancing chemical hazard assessment with decision analysis: A case study on lithium-ion and redox flow batteries used for energy storage
Batteries are important for promoting renewable energy, but, like most engineered products, they contain multiple hazardous materials. A study co-authored by Dele Ogunseitan, PhD, professor of population health and disease prevention, found that materials in lithium-ion batteries exhibit high hazard, underscoring the need for safer materials to be identified and considered in future designs.
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Disease in Conflict: UCI-led study found COVID-19 exacerbated link between global conflict and existing respiratory illnesses
PhD student and corresponding author Maia Tarnas and faculty mentor Daniel Parker, PhD, associate professor, examined disease trends and potential impacts of COVID-19 in northern Syria, underscores the need for enhanced infectious disease surveillance in areas facing humanitarian crisis to reduce the global spread of disease.
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Dr. Alpesh Amin receives Orange County’s 2022 Physician of the Year Award
The Orange County Medical Association’s Physician of the Year award recognizes affiliated faculty member Dr. Alpesh Amin, a regional physician, whose career exemplifies extraordinary professional ability and a commitment to their patients and colleagues. Amin serves as chair of the Department of Medicine and executive director of the UCI Health Hospitalist Program. He is also an affiliated faculty member at UCI Public Health.
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Athalie R. Clarke Public Health Achievement Grant Recipient
Michael Kleinman, PhD, adjunct professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and a researcher in the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, received the Athalie R. Clarke Achievement Award for research, which came with funding to support student research in environmental toxicology and air pollution.
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UCI Grad Division Graduate Completion Fellowship Award Fall 2022
Congratulations to Xiaochen Liu, a PhD candidate in the Epidemiology doctoral program, on being awarded a UCI Grad Division’s Graduate Completion Fellowship for Fall 2022, which covers tuition and salary for the Fall 2022 quarter. Liu’s thesis focuses on genomic factors underlying alcohol-associated and viral hepatitis. Her current work is to study biological mechanisms involved in Alcoholic hepatitis and hepatitis C using transcriptomic data.
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UCI Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation Graduate Summer Fellowship
PhD in Epidemiology student, Lewis Simon, was awarded a DTEI (UCI Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation) graduate summer fellowship. Simon dedicated 200 hours to assisting Dr. Karen Edwards update and revamp her graduate-level genetic epidemiology course utilizing inclusive practices and strategies related to course design and development.
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UC Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program Grant
PhD in Epidemiology student, Andrew Vu, MPH, was awarded a grant from the UC Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program to study the “Effects of Socio-Demographic and Neighborhood Characteristics on Vaping Trends among Teenagers in CA.”
Under the mentorship of Sora Tanjasiri, DrPH, Vu aims to inform local community partners and programs and support communities disproportionately affected by the adolescent vaping epidemic.
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UCI takes first place in EPA Environmental Justice Video Challenge for Students
The UCI cross-disciplinary graduate students - Annika Hjelmstad, Ashley Green, David Bañuelas, Tim Schütz, Ariane Jong, and Alexis Guerra (UCI Public Health student), Javier Garibay and Irene Martinez won first place in Phase 1 of the EPA’s Environmental Justice Video Challenge for Students, in which they revealed the lead soil contamination threat in Santa Ana.
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A Local Irvine Couple Takes Philanthropic Responsibility to Heart
UCI Alumnus and Community Advisory Board Member Mark Malek, MD, MPH, and wife, Jennie Malek, were among the first donors to establish a summer fellowship fund called the Malek Family Scholarship. Their gift will allow a PhD student to continue their research over the summer months by providing a fellowship fund that helps cover living expenses.
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Pop-Up Public Health: Sexual Health & Student Wellness
- October 4th 11-2pm // Ring Road near the Student Center
- October 5th 11-2pm // Brandywine
- October 6th 11-2pm // Anteatery
UCI Public Health will be co-hosting a pop-up booth to answer questions and provide information about student wellness and sexual health. Stop by to play interactive games and win some prizes!
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