Professional Title:
Graduate Student in the VIDA Lab (Rivera Gonzalez Lab)
Email:
Bio:
Deidra Lemoine Valenzuela is a PhD student in the Public Health Department. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Public Health from UC Merced and a Master of Public Health in Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology from UC Berkeley. Her master’s thesis modeled the potential spread of Japanese Encephalitis virus in California through port introductions. Prior to her doctoral studies, Deidra served as an arboviral disease research associate in the Viral and Rickettsial Disease Laboratory at the California Department of Public Health, where she coordinated annual West Nile virus testing seasons and pioneered the first locally acquired dengue surveillance program. Her research at UC Merced examines the social epidemiology of infectious diseases, with a focus on arboviral diseases.
