About Us
Founded in 2016, the Department of Public Health consists of interdisciplinary faculty working to address pressing public health challenges facing the people of the San Joaquin Valley, California, and beyond. Students and faculty in the Department of Public Health prioritize research on regionally important challenges and leverage a participatory approach to build capacity in local communities. Our faculty and students form a vibrant and collegial intellectual community marked by outstanding scholarship and participation in interdisciplinary communities of inquiry.
Current departmental research emphasizes:
- the effects of air quality on cardiorespiratory and perinatal health
- structural racism and socioeconomic barriers as drivers of health inequities in infectious disease and cancer
- Latino and immigrant health
- the social epidemiology of mental and behavioral disorders
- culturally and contextually responsive approaches to nutrition
- climate change and natural disasters as determinants of population health
Our Mission
To understand, promote, and protect health in the San Joaquín Valley, California, and the world through our research and training of the next generation of public health leaders.
Our People
Department Chair:
Asa Bradman, PhD, MS
email: abradman@ucmerced.edu
Graduate Program Chair:
Sidra Goldman-Mellor, PhD, MPH
email: sgoldman-mellor@ucmerced.edu
Undergrad Program Chair:
Andrea Joyce, PhD, MS
email: ajoyce2@ucmerced.edu
Full list of people:
