NPR interviewed Dr. Arturo Vargas Bustamante, professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, about infant and maternal health for the "Morning Edition" program.
A team of UCLA medical and public health researchers have been instrumental in pioneering work by the World Health Organization (WHO) to demonstrate how lifelong health and well-being depends greatly on an individual’s earliest years.
Newly-published research links womens’ exposure to agricultural pesticides, even before becoming pregnant, to poorer health in infants.
Kayla de la Haye, Ph.D., is a Professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health who works to promote health and prevent disease by studying how social relationships and everyday environments shape public health. Her research examines how family and community networks, built environments, and public policies work together to influence eating habits, nutrition security, and lifestyle behaviors linked to chronic disease. Her work shows that health behaviors are not simply individual choices—they are shaped by the social and economic conditions in which people live.
Education
- Doctor of Philosophy, Health Psychology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
- Bachelor of Health Science (Hons), Psychology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
- Bachelor of Arts, Psychology & Anthropology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
New research suggests that exposure to intense wildfire smoke during pregnancy may be associated with increased likelihood of autism in children. The peer-reviewed study, by researchers at UC Davis Health and the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, was published in the February edition of the journal Environment International.
Dr. Patience Afulani, associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), has been inducted into the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health’s “Alumni Hall of Fame” for 2025.
Alison Gemmill is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public Health and a nationally recognized expert in perinatal epidemiology and fertility. Her research leverages large-scale data and natural experiments to understand how structural and political determinants—such as policies, economic shocks, and social stressors—shape maternal, infant, and reproductive health outcomes, including preterm birth, fetal loss, and maternal complications.
Education
- PhD, Demography, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
- MA, Demography, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
- MPH, Maternal and Child Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
- BA, Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
KPCC-FM (NPR) interviewed Dr. Michael Jerrett, professor in the UCLA Fielding School's Department of Environmental Health Sciences, about research he has led that found that women who were pregnant at the time of the 2015-16 leak had babies with low birth weights at rates almost 50% higher than normal.
Women in their final trimester of pregnancy who lived within 6.2 miles of the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Field blowout — the largest uncontrolled release of toxic air pollutants from an underground gas storage facility in U.S. history — had a nearly 50% higher-than-expected chance of having a low–birth-weight baby, according to a new study by UCLA researchers.
An interdisciplinary team of public health and environmental science researchers from across the University of California have found that despite efforts by the state and local school districts, many public schools fall short of providing sufficient shade, much less natural playing surfaces, for the 5.8 million children they serve – especially in an era of extreme temperatures.