The UC Davis Environmental Health Sciences Center bridges the gap between science and health. Learn how its research is building healthier communities.
February 11th is International Women and Girls In Science Day. To celebrate, we sat down with four of the Environmental Health Sciences Center Core Leadership Group to ask them about their experience as women in the STEM field and what advice they would give to the next generation.
Below is an edited transcript of our conversation.
“Dignidad: El camino hacia la justicia de las trabajadoras domésticas de California”, sindicado a nivel nacional por CBS para 2022-2023. ¡Inscríbete en nuestra lista de correo electrónico o marca esta página para recibir notificaciones con actualizaciones sobre este documental y otros eventos!
We’re global leaders in environmental health sciences research who aim to make a difference in the well-being of California’s diverse communities. We work with local groups and governments to identify new approaches in science and develop real-world solutions to the environment’s most challenging health problems. From innovative toxicological studies on Alzheimer’s to pioneering research on the epigenetics of autism, we’re front and center breaking new ground in understanding how the environment interacts with human health.
COVID-19 was a disaster that turned lives upside down
The goal of our COVID-19 research project was to understand how workers and their families were affected by the pandemic at home and on the job. Beyond the number of cases, deaths, and unemployed were the physical and mental health impacts on individuals and their families. A pandemic of this magnitude demanded quick action from decision-makers, but information about workers and their health, economic security, and needs was incomplete.
Irva Hertz-Picciotto, PhD, MPH, is an environmental epidemiologist committed to furthering our understanding of how both specific exposures and global climate or planetary changes harm health. Her work has tackled the effects of substances like metals, pesticides, air pollutants, organic compounds, and endocrine disruptors on cancer, pregnancy, perinatal outcomes, respiratory health, immune markers and neurodevelopment. Additional themes have included innovations in epidemiologic methods, and the interactions of environmental factors with nutrition, genetics, and social stressors.
Like other centers sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the research we do at the UC Davis Environmental Health Sciences Center (EHSC) can be broken up into three key areas or "cores." Contact any one of the co-directors below for more information.
