| Speakers |
| Michelle Meyer Director of Continuing Education Center for Occupational and Environmental Health Michelle Meyer is Director of Continuing Education at the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH). She began her health and safety career when she joined COEH in 2017 after working at multiple tech start-ups in the San Francisco Bay Area. Michelle graduated from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in 2013. | |
| John Balmes MD Director Emeritus, Center for Occupational and Environmental Health UC San Francisco & UC Berkeley Dr. Balmes is Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Professor of Environmental Health Sciences Emeritus in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley). He is an Attending Physician in the UCSF Division of Occupational, Environmental and Climate Medicine and the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. At UC Berkeley, he is one of the Principal Investigators of the Children’s Health and Air Pollution Study (CHAPS) in Fresno, California. Dr. Balmes has been studying the effects of occupational and environmental agents on respiratory, cardiovascular, and metabolic health for over 40 years. He was appointed Physician Member of the California Air Resources Board in 2008.
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| Sheri Belafsky MD, MS, FACOEM Director, UC Davis Medical Surveillance Program University of California, Davis Dr. Belafsky is a board-certified occupational and environmental medicine physician and has worked with the UC Davis Medical Surveillance Program since 2009. She completed residency training in Occupational and Environmental Medicine and a Master of Science degree in Public Health Science and Policy at UC Irvine, and received her M.D. from Tulane University School of Medicine. As the UC Davis Medical Surveillance Program’s medical director, she works with employers to identify potential workplace health hazards and design medical programs to help protect the health of workers. Dr. Belafsky currently serves on the board of directors for the Western Occupational and Environmental Medical Association (WOEMA), and is active in planning educational content for both WOEMA and UC Davis medical providers. She is passionate about fitness and enjoys hiking, yoga, and running. | |
| Jean Bernhardt PhD, MHSA, MSN, NEA-BC, CNP Associate Professor MGH Institute of Health Professions Dr. Bernhardt is an Associate Professor at the MGH Institute of Health Professions School of Nursing where she serves on the Steering Committee of its Center for Climate Change, Climate Justice, and Health. She is currently a fellow of the NIH National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Environmental Health Research Institute for Nurse and Clinician Scientists. Jean is also, the Director of Occupational Enterprise Services at Mass General Brigham in Boston, MA. She has publications related to nursing management and leadership, nurse-sensitive disorders in the care of patients with opioid use disorder, and climate change. | |
| Simon Camponuri MPH PhD Candidate University of California, Berkeley Simon Camponuri, MPH, is a current Environmental Health Sciences PhD Candidate at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health focusing on the environmental and occupational epidemiology of coccidioidomycosis (Valley fever) in the U.S. He received his MPH from UC Berkeley in Environmental Health Sciences, where he analyzed the impact of precipitation and temperature on the seasonal transmission patterns of Valley fever in California. In his doctoral research, Simon is continuing to examine the myriad influences of the environment on Valley fever epidemiology, including the effect of precipitation, heat, and drought on the incidence and seasonal patterns of Valley fever, the importance of occupation in determining pathogen exposure risk, the relationship between land use change and Valley fever risk, the role of animals in the life cycle and surveillance of Valley fever, and the future impact of climate change on Valley fever emergence in California and beyond. | |
| Sadie Costello PhD, MPH Deputy Director, Center for Occupational and Environmental Health University of California, Berkeley Sadie Costello is an occupational and environmental epidemiologist at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. She has studied a range of chronic disease outcomes, including heart disease and cancer, in relation to particulate exposures in light metal manufacturing, metalworking fluids in automobile manufacturing, and to diesel exhaust and silica in miners. Sadie has focused on methods to address healthy worker survivor bias and on using large administrative datasets to answer causal research questions. | |
| Angel Desai MD, MPH Assistant Clinical Professor University of California, Davis Dr. Angel Desai is an infectious diseases physician and Assistant Professor at the University of California, Davis. Her research focuses on leveraging novel data sources to discern epidemiological trends in emerging diseases and outbreaks, particularly among displaced and other vulnerable populations. Her other interests include global infection prevention and control measures in resource-limited settings, and health communication. | |
| Fadi Fathallah PhD Professor University of California, Davis Fadi Fathallah, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at the University of California, Davis. His research interests include exposure assessment and development of interventions for the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders among agricultural workers, understanding the effects of stooped postures and stooped work on the spine, and biomechanics of ladders in agriculture. | |
| Carisa Harris PhD, CPE, PT Director Center for Occupational and Environmental Health Dr. Harris is Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at UC San Francisco and in the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley. She is also the Director of the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, and the UCSF/UCB Ergonomics Research & Graduate Training Program. Dr. Harris’ current research ranges from epidemiological studies on healthy worker survivor bias in the assessment of physical, personal and work psychosocial factors associated with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and subsequent work disability to the development of personal monitoring devices to quantify physical exposures on the individual level. She also collaborates on numerous other projects at the UC Ergonomics lab that explore the ergonomic improvements for endoscopists, hand-arm computer interactions (gestures), work related cardiovascular strain, sedantarianism and the impact of exoskeleton devices on manual material handlers. | |
| Amy Heinzerling MD, MPH Chief, Emerging Workplace Hazards Unit California Department of Public Health Dr. Heinzerling is a public health physician with expertise in occupational health and epidemiology. As chief of the Emerging Workplace Hazards Unit in the California Department of Public Health Occupational Health Branch, and in previous roles as a public health medical officer at CDPH and CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer, she has led multiple investigations and research projects on topics such as vaping-associated lung injury, silicosis in countertop fabrication workers, and COVID-19 workplace outbreaks. Her work continues to focus on the epidemiology and prevention of work-related injury and illness in California. | |
| David Hornung MPH, CIH Statewide Heat Program Coordinator Cal/OSHA David started work for Cal/OSHA in 2009 as a compliance officer in Oakland. He spent his first summers with Cal/OSHA performing heat inspections in the early days of the heat illness prevention standard. He is currently the Statewide Heat Program Coordinator. David received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 2002 and a Master in Public Health in 2007 from UC Berkeley - Go Bears! David is a Certified Industrial Hygienist. | |
| Rachel Leven Media Communications Specialist, College of Computing, Data Science, and Society University of California, Berkeley Rachel Leven is an award-winning journalist, communicator and researcher dedicated to improving civic engagement through education and information. Her work appeared in publications like Bloomberg and WIRED, has been cited everywhere from U.S. congressional hearings to The Colbert Report, and was recognized as part of the Best American Science and Nature Writing series. She is currently a media communications specialist at UC Berkeley's College of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS), where she writes news stories, media trains and facilitates connections with journalists for CDSS faculty, staff and students to increase awareness and recognition of their research, programmatic and educational innovation for public good. | |
| Miriam Marlier PhD Assistant Professor University of California, Los Angeles Miriam Marlier is an Assistant Professor of Global Environmental Change in the Environmental Health Sciences Department at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. She is an interdisciplinary environmental scientist with broad interests in examining interactions between environmental change and public health using remote sensing data and interdisciplinary modeling techniques. Some of her recent research projects include forecasting the influence of different conservation and development policies in Indonesia on fire emissions, air pollution, and regional public health outcomes, measuring the effect of agricultural waste burning on air quality in India, understanding the physical climate drivers of fire activity in the western U.S., and using remote sensing data to improve responses to natural disasters. | |
| Nayamin Martinez MPH Executive Director Central California Environmental Justice Network Ms. Martinez is the director of the Central California Environmental Justice Network (CCEJN). Prior to joining CCEJN, Ms. Martinez worked for the Madera County Public Health Department as a Health Education Coordinator; a Program Manager with the Alliance for California Traditional Arts, and for ten years was the Health Projects Coordinator for the Binational Center for the Development of the Oaxacan Indigenous Communities. Ms. Martinez has vast experience working with immigrants and residents of disadvantaged communities across the San Joaquin Valley managing public health programs; conducting participatory research and launching leadership and civic engagement programs. Ms. Martinez serves in various advisory groups including the “Environmental Justice Advisory Group of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District”; the “Community Stakeholders Advisory Committee” of the UCD Environmental Health Science Core Center. Ms. Martinez has vast experience providing technical support to small nonprofit organizations and grassroot groups in the areas of fundraising and fund development. Ms. Martinez holds a Master’s Degree in both Public Health and Sociology. | |
| Kathleen Navarro DuBose PhD, MPH Wildland Firefighter Health and Wellbeing Program Coordinator Department of the Interior, Office of Wildland Fire Dr. Kathleen DuBose is the Wildland Firefighter Health and Wellbeing Program Coordinator in the Department of the Interior, Office of Wildland Fire. She earned her PhD and MPH in Environmental Health Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley. After graduate school, Dr. Navarro worked for the US Forest Service and CDC NIOSH conducting wildland firefighter health and smoke research. In addition, she spent the 2019 fire season as a crewmember on a Type 1 Interagency Hotshot Crew, an elite team of highly trained wildland firefighters. Her time as a researcher and wildland firefighter allowed her to obtain high-quality personal and area exposure data and understand risks in the complex fire work environment. | |
| Betsey Noth MPH, PhD, CIH Associate Researcher University of California, Berkeley Dr. Noth is an exposure scientist with over 20 years of experience in environmental and occupational exposure assessment. She is currently the co-director of the Industrial Hygiene Graduate Training Program in the Northern California ERC and an associate researcher at UC Berkeley. | |
| Mechelle PereaRyan PhD, FNP, PHN Professor/FNP Stanislaus State/Private Office Dr. Mechelle PereaRyan is a Family Nurse Practitioner and Professor at California State University, Stanislaus. Research interests include health disparities, especially for Hispanics and farmworkers, and the integration of the Social and Environmental Determinants of Health into patient-centered care. | |
| Konrad Rykaczewski PhD Associate Professor Arizona State University Konrad Rykaczewski is an associate professor at School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, Senior Global Futures Scientist in Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory, and Health Solutions Ambassador in College of Health Solutions all at Arizona State University. He received his bachelor's (2005), master's (2007) and doctoral (2009) degrees in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Tech. Prior to his appointments at ASU, he was a research scientist at MIT and a National Research Council postdoctoral fellow at the NIST. His prior research spans a wide range of length scales and topics from anti-icing nanomaterials to rattlesnake drinking, and currently focuses on thermal management of microelectronics and human adaptation to extreme heat. | |
| Gina Solomon MD, MPH Chief of the Division of Occupational, Environmental & Climate Medicine University of California, San Francisco Gina Solomon is the Chief of the Division of Occupational, Environmental & Climate Medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). At UCSF, Dr. Solomon oversees clinical occupational health activities at three hospital sites, leads research efforts in environmental health, and directs the Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) residency program. From 2018-2023 Dr. Solomon was a program director at the Public Health Institute (PHI) in Oakland, CA, where she established and led the Achieving Resilient Communities (ARC) project to identify, test, and expand actionable interventions to reduce climate change impacts in farmworker communities. From 2012-2018, Dr. Solomon served as the Deputy Secretary for Science and Health at the California Environmental Protection Agency. She was a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council from 1996-2012. Dr. Solomon has served on multiple boards and committees of the National Academies of Sciences; World Health Organization; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and other federal and state agencies. Dr. Solomon received her bachelor’s degree from Brown University, her M.D. from Yale, and did her M.P.H. and her residency and fellowship training in internal medicine and occupational and environmental medicine at Harvard. | |
| Gail Sondermeyer Cooksey MPH Epidemiolgist California Department of Public Health Gail Sondermeyer Cooksey is a senior epidemiologist at the California Department of Public Health. Her work focuses on coccidioidomycosis (Valley fever) including disease surveillance, outbreak investigation, and public and provider outreach. Gail’s research interests primarily include infectious disease epidemiology, health disparities, and One Health, particularly regarding endemic mycoses, emerging diseases, and the etiologic agents of pneumonia and respiratory illness. Gail received her Master’s degree in public health from the University of California, Berkeley focusing in infectious diseases and vaccinology. | |
| Laura Stock MPH Director Labor Occupational Health Program Laura Stock is the director of the Labor Occupational Health Program (LOHP). She directs and administers LOHP’s programs providing training, research support, materials development and technical assistance for workers, employers, health professionals, and the general public. She also provide direction to staff on translating research findings to practice and to public policy (R2P2P). In her over thirty years at LOHP, she has developed various training programs and educational materials on occupational safety and health issues and have provided technical assistance and consultation to workers, unions, joint labor/management committees, employers, policymakers and others on how to set up comprehensive and effective health and safety programs. Ms. Stock is currently principle investigator on a number of statewide worker education initiatives including WOSHTEP (Worker Occupational Safety and Health Training and Education Program), and is a member of the Cal/OSHA Standards Board, charged with developing occupational safety regulations for the state of CA as well as the NIOSH/ NORA Committees on Healthy Work Design. | |
