Dr. Yoshira “Yoshi” Ornelas Van Horne is an exposure scientist and environmental justice scholar. She is the assistant director of Agents of Change in Environmental Justice Fellowship, which trains early career scientists in science communications.
Education
- PhD, Environmental Health Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
- MS, Environmental Health Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
- BS, Microbiology University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
In an unprecedented collective scientific effort to understand the short- and long-term health impacts of wildfires, researchers from four universities have launched a 10-year study of the Los Angeles fires. The wildfires that began in early January 2025 killed 29 people, destroyed more than 16,000 structures, and exposed millions to toxic smoke.
The research aims to evaluate which pollutants are present, at what levels, and where, and to assess the respiratory, neurological, cardiovascular, reproductive, and immune system impacts of the wildfires.
Survivors of wildfires like those burning across Los Angeles can experience mental health issues long after a blaze is out.
Differences in race and ethnicity, income level, and sexual orientation and gender identity continued in 2023 to be linked to differences in equitable experiences across a range of health-related issues affecting Californians, according to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research’s latest California Health Interview Survey (CHIS).
Born in Lima, Peru, Dr. Angie Denisse Otiniano Verissimo is an Associate Professor of Teaching at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health where she earned her PhD and MPH. She completed her Postdoctoral Fellowship at the UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Education
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Integrated Substance Abuse Programs; UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
- PhD, Community Health Sciences; UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA
- MPH, Community Health Sciences; UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA
- BA, Biology & Spanish; University of Redlands, Redlands, CA
The Jonathan Fielding Chair in Climate Change and Public Health — the first endowed chair at UCLA with climate change in its title — has been established at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health through a generous donation by Dr. Jonathan and Karin Fielding. Dr.
Groundbreaking study demonstrates impact of direct cash over a 12-month period, showing increased ability of recipients to exit intimate partner violence, decreased food insecurity, and improved quality of life across a number of additional domains.
Key takeaways:
Dr. Ying-Ying Meng, director of research at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and scholar at UCLA Fielding, whose work focused on the causes of and solutions to inequities in health and health care delivery from a holistic perspective, died of cancer on April 11. She was 68.
In a special issue of the American Journal of Public Health, guest editors Vickie M. Mays and Susan D. Cochran call for a reframing and redoubling of public mental health efforts.