2024-2025 Climate and Health Scholars Class

Sue Anne Bell, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the University of Michigan School of Nursing. Her research focuses on the health and well-being of aging populations in the context of disasters and public health emergencies, with support from the NIH, NASA and NSF. She recently completed a six-year term on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Advisory Council, and currently serves on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's National Council on Seniors and Disasters. In addition to her academic work, Dr. Bell remains clinically active as a nurse practitioner with the National Disaster Medical System, where she has deployed to over a dozen disaster response missions.

Daniel Carrión, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Yale School of Public Health and Director of Education for the Yale Center on Climate Change and Health. His research focuses on the intersections of climate change, energy systems, and health equity, employing advanced exposure science and environmental epidemiology methods to study energy inequities, ambient temperature, and air pollution on health. Dr. Carrión's work aims to unravel relationships between structural inequalities and environmental exposure disparities to inform interventions. He received his BA from Ithaca College, MPH from New York Medical College, and PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from Columbia University, followed by postdoctoral training at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He is a Senior Fellow of both the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice program and the Environmental Leadership Program, a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, and formerly a governor-appointed member to the New York State Health Equity Council. Through these roles, he continues to advocate for environmental and climate justice and health equity in both academic and policy spheres.

José Guillermo Cedeño Laurent, Sc.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Rutgers School of Public Health. Dr. Cedeño Laurent's overarching research goal is to investigate how climate change-related environmental exposures impact both acute and chronic health outcomes, with a focus on adaptation mechanisms that can protect vulnerable populations. He has developed novel exposure assessment methods to measure climate stressors, specifically heat and wildfire-related air pollution. His research has explored the impacts of these environmental exposures on cognitive function, sleep, and cardiovascular health, with studies conducted in diverse settings within the United States and internationally. A leader in environmental exposure assessment, he has also designed and implemented ecologic momentary assessment platforms that integrate real-time environmental sensors, wearable devices, and smartphone apps for cognitive testing in longitudinal studies. These experiences have equipped him to advance research on how climate stressors affect neurological health and aging.

He holds a Doctor of Science degree in Environmental Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, a Master's degree in Energy Engineering from RWTH Aachen University, and a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Electrical Engineering from the Institute of Technology of Monterrey. Fluent in English, Spanish, and German, Dr. Cedeño Laurent brings a global perspective to his research and teaching.

Jaime Madrigano, Sc.D., is a Bloomberg Associate Professor of American Health within the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research focuses on environmental and social determinants of health, including climate change and extreme weather, environmental pollution, and the built environment, with an emphasis on environmental justice. Dr. Madrigano's research employs epidemiologic methods to inform policy and frequently involves community-based partnerships. She has led research to examine the association between historical redlining and present-day environmental hazards and produced a data visualization tool to explore these relationships. Dr. Madrigano's work on extreme heat vulnerability assessments has informed multi-agency public health preparedness efforts within New York City (NYC) and was instrumental to informing the development of the 2017 NYC Mayor's $106 million heat adaptation program, Cool Neighborhoods NYC. She is currently conducting similar research in New Orleans, LA, to understand vulnerability to extreme heat within that city. Dr. Madrigano completed interdisciplinary postdoctoral training focused on climate change and health as an Earth Institute Fellow at Columbia University and received her Sc.D. in epidemiology and environmental health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She currently serves on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Board of Scientific Counselors Executive Committee and is co-chair of the Climate Change Subcommittee. She is also a member of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology North America Chapter's Executive Council.

Kimberley R. Miner, Ph.D., is a Climate Scientist and Program Manager at the NASA Jet Propulsion Labs at California Institute of Technology. Her research on climate risks has taken her to the planet's extreme environments- from the North Pole to Antarctica and Mt. Everest.

Dedicated to science communication, Kimberley's research teams have reached international audiences with features in the BBC, NYT, GQ, and a 2020 Guinness World Record.

Before coming to NASA, Kimberley worked on climate security for the Department of Defense in DC, and holds a research professorship at University of Maine and Virginia Tech. She is also writing a book on how younger generations can plan for climate change--to be released in early 2025. Kimberley is a Black belt, wilderness Firefighter, and lives in a fishing harbor on the Pacific Ocean.

Eugene Richardson, M.D., Ph.D., received his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College and his Ph.D. in Anthropology (Ecology & Environment Track) from Stanford University. He completed residency in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine at Stanford University Medical Center.

He previously served as the clinical lead for Partners In Health's Ebola response in Kono District, Sierra Leone, where he continues to conduct research on infectious disease ecology and Adaptation Frontiers. He also worked as a clinical case management consultant for the WHO's Ebola riposte in Beni, Democratic Republic of the Congo. More recently, he was seconded to the Africa CDC to join their COVID-19 response. His overall focus is on biosocial approaches to epidemic disease and climate change. He is Director of the HMS Planetary Health Lab, co-chair of the Walter and Patricia Rodney Commission on Reparations, co-chair of the Global Environmental Change Commission on Climate Justice, and author of the book, Epidemic Illusions: On the Coloniality of Global Public Health.

Jason Rohr, Ph.D., is the Ludmilla F., Stephen J., and Robert T. Galla Professor of Biological Sciences and Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame. He holds BA degrees in Biology and Environmental Studies, a MA in Teaching Biology, and a PhD in Ecology all from Binghamton University, and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Kentucky and Penn State University. His research program emphasizes planetary health, focusing on how natural and anthropogenic environmental changes, mainly climate change, pollution, and alterations to biodiversity, affect wildlife populations, species interactions, and the spread of both wildlife and human diseases. His research makes efforts to integrate across disciplines, including ecology, the health sciences, agricultural sciences, toxicology, conservation biology, sociology, and economics, and to address multiple Sustainable Development Goals. The primary aim of his laboratory is to understand, and develop solutions to, environmental problems to improve human health and a sustainable co-existence with the natural world.

Patrick Ryan, Ph.D., is a Professor of Pediatrics and Environmental and Public Health Sciences at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine. He currently serves as Associate Director for Research in the Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Director of the Graduate Programs in Clinical and Translational Research, and Director of the Translational Workforce Development Core for the Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Training. His research integrates exposure science with epidemiology to study the impact of environmental exposures and social determinants of health, including air pollution, temperature, community resources, greenspace, and others, on respiratory and neurodevelopmental health outcomes in children and adults. He also uses wearable and low-cost environmental monitors and sensors in his studies, alongside community-engaged approaches, to mitigate the effects of environmental exposures on health.

Soko Setoguchi, M.D., DrPH, is a general internist and epidemiologist, professor of medicine and epidemiology, and co-director of the Master of Science in Clinical and Translational Science at Rutgers University. She directs multiple climate, health, and healthcare sustainability initiatives at Rutgers, co-leading the Rutgers Health Climate Action Group and the RWJBarnabas Health Sustainability Committees. Setoguchi's research expertise lies in health services research and pharmacoepidemiology, with a focus on care and treatments for individuals with chronic diseases. In response to the increasing threats of climate change to the health of patients and communities, her research interests have expanded to include interdisciplinary, population-level studies addressing climate change's impacts on health and its interaction with healthcare and treatments, which have been NIH-funded. She has mentored early-stage investigators pursuing research in climate and health, including an NIH-funded career development project and pilot studies. Setoguchi is the lead Co-Principal Investigator for the NIH-supported P50 Center for Asian Health Promotion and Equity, one of the twelve Health Equity Action Network (HEAN) centers funded by NIMHD. At HEAN, she co-leads the Environmental, Chemical, Climate, and Occupational Exposure (ECCO) Equity Action Group. At the International Society of Pharmacoepidemiology, Setoguchi founded a special interest group on "Environmental Pharmacoepidemiology," pioneering a new subdiscipline called "Environmental Pharmacoepidemiology/Health Services Research." This emerging field addresses the intersection of environmental factors with therapies and healthcare delivery, focusing on treatment-environment interactions and care disruptions caused by the climate crisis. It employs data science and epidemiologic methods, along with patient, stakeholder, and community engagement, to develop and test potential solutions.

For the past 19 years, Christopher Uejio, Ph.D., researched how the physical environment influences human health and well-being. He co-authored the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Building Resilience Against Climate Effects Framework. This framework comprised a small portion of the President's Climate Action Plan (2012). His research agenda builds the evidence base to anticipate and adapt to global environmental change, and evaluates interventions to increase community resilience. He frequently work with health departments to understand and adapt to climate change. His work has been funded by multiple U.S. federal (NASA, CDC, EPA, NSF, NOAA, NIEHS), state, and non-profit institutions (NAS GRP, Wellcome Trust).

Leyao Wang, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, and the Institute for Applied Life Sciences, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research focuses on the human microbiome and lung health in the context of climate change. Dr. Wang utilized population-based studies and molecular biology research approaches to understand how climate-related exposures impact health mediators, especially the microbiome. In 2018, Dr. Wang and her collaborators at San Juan City Hospital in Puerto Rico started conducting a birth cohort study called Hurricane as the Origin of Later Alterations in microbiome (HOLA). HOLA utilized the devastating Hurricane Maria as a natural experiment to characterize how a major disaster may alter the human microbiome in early infancy and lead to increased disease risks later in life. This pioneer work highlighted the profound threat of climate change on human health and the urgent need to understand the science, solutions, and policy implications. Dr. Wang received her PhD in Microbiology from Fudan University and MPH from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. She completed her postdoctoral training at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institute and Yale University School of Public Health. She also established an interdisciplinary research program at Washington University School of Medicine, and then, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Joshua R. Wortzel, M.D., is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and clinical scientist at Hartford Healthcare where he works at the Young Adult Services Intensive Outpatient Program at the Institute of Living and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Yale University in the Department of Psychiatry. He serves as the chair of the American Psychiatric Association's Committee on Climate Change and Mental Health, the co-chair of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry's (AACAP) Climate Change Committee, a fellow of the think tank Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry where he serves on the Climate Committee, and a steering committee member of the nonprofit Climate Psychiatry Alliance. In these roles, he has worked to help conduct research, engage in advocacy, and develop educational materials for this emerging field for medical professionals, the government, and the public. His research has included studying the epidemiology and biological mechanisms by which ambient heat impacts psychiatric affective disorders and suicidality, how existential distress about climate change impacts mental health in youth, and methods by which the carbon footprint of psychiatry can be reduced. He has received funding for his research through an R25 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), an early career pilot grant awarded by AACAP, and the Cotswold Foundation. Wortzel received his master's in clinical research at Cambridge University, his medical training at Stanford University, his general psychiatry residency and master's in health professions education at the University of Rochester, and his child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Brown University.

Jun Wu, Ph.D., is a Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health in the Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health at the University of California, Irvine. Wu earned a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering from Penn State University and a Ph.D. in Environmental Health Sciences from the University of California, Los Angeles. Dedicated to advancing evidence-based research in environmental health and health equity, Wu's work spans three primary areas: environmental exposure assessment, environmental epidemiology, and community-based participatory research focused on environmental injustice. She employs big data and advanced exposure assessment methods to characterize both individual and population-level exposures to various environmental stressors, such as air pollution, wildfire smoke, extreme heat, and green space. In the field of environmental epidemiology, Wu investigates the effects of complex environmental exposures, including those related to climate change and social vulnerability, on maternal health, pregnancy outcomes, and children's health. With extensive experience collaborating with local community partners, Wu work on issues raised by community members, including air pollution from industrial and other sources, soil contamination by lead and other metals, and extreme heat adaptation. Currently, Wu serves as PI or MPI on several federal and state grants. These projects study the individual and joint impacts of climate change related exposures, environmental pollution, and social vulnerability on various health outcomes. Some also address environmental injustice issues and empower communities by providing them with the knowledge and tools to work towards health equity through actionable solutions derived from research.