Cristina Gomez-Vidal, Ph.D.
Email: agomez-vidal@ucmerced.edu
Dr. Cristina Gomez-Vidal is a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow. Her research examines how political and governance structures can be improved to foster inclusiveness and more excellent health for marginalized communities. Her postdoctoral research examines how governance systems impact California unincorporated communities’ democratic agency and ability to navigate climate health threats and events.
Dr. Cristina Gomez-Vidal received her Ph.D. and MSW from the School of Social Welfare at UC Berkeley. She is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Health Policy Research Scholar Alumna. Dr. Gomez-Vidal is funded through the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps program of the RWJF-funded University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute to construct indices of unincorporation to assess the relationship between lack of incorporation and health outcomes and health factors in counties and states.
Estrella Herrera-Molina, Ph.D.
Email: eherrera42@ucmerced.edu
Dr. Estrella Herrera received a Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Engineering from the University of Texas at El Paso. Her research examines the associations between exposure to air pollution after a dust event and hospitalizations over the Chihuahuan desert and Southern Plains of Texas and how Disparities in health and its determinants may induce intrinsic vulnerability to the effects of air pollution.
Her postdoctoral research examines San Joaquin Valley particulate matter air pollution and its health effects. Her previous work involved conceptualizing a predictive model for analysis of the health outcomes of dust events, air pollution control, biological aerosol particles in dust, water management, botanical research, characterization of climate zones, environmental compliance, and Environmental Management Systems.
