UCLA acknowledges the Tongva peoples as the traditional land caretakers of Tovaangar (Los Angeles basin, So. Channel Islands) and is grateful to have the opportunity to work for the taraaxatom (indigenous peoples) in this place. As a land grant institution, we pay our respects to the Honuukvetam (Ancestors), ‘Ahiihirom (Elders), and ‘Eyoohiinkem (relations) past, present and emerging.
UCLA FIELDING SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
RESEARCH, INNOVATION & IMPACT DAY
Welcome to the 2026 UCLA Fielding Research, Innovation & Impact Day. We are incredibly excited to reprise this event first held in 2023, and to bring together new and continuing UCLA Fielding faculty, staff, students, alums, and friends of the school for a day of discovery and networking.
We would like to extend a special UCLA welcome to Dr. Erica Pan, director and state public health officer of the California Department of Public Health. California has a long history of public health successes, and it is an honor to have the chance to hear Dr. Pan’s thoughts on promoting a healthy California for all.
Public health research and practice progresses through rigor, innovation, diversity of experiences, and collaboration — today’s program illustrates these principles. Panels and conversations throughout the day will highlight extraordinary work underway in our academic departments and centers. We encourage you to take this opportunity to learn from and build community with one another. The connections that you form today can drive new collaborations that lead to long-lasting impacts on health and equity worldwide.
An FSPH Public Health Student Impact Poster Showcase will be on view throughout the day. Ten finalists chosen from more than forty submissions — all of which are available for viewing online — will be present to discuss their research and practice projects during the lunch hour.
Understandably, today’s event has taken many hands to put together. We want to thank everyone for their work to present an inspiring day. Most importantly, we are also grateful to you, the presenters, our FSPH and university community, and our friends, for your enthusiasm and excitement about this day. Enjoy!
Ron Brookmeyer, PhD, MS
Dean and Distinguished Professor of Biostatistics
James Macinko, PhD, MA
Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Health Policy and Management & Community Health Sciences
James Macinko, PhD, MA
Ron Brookmeyer, PhD, MS
AGENDA
9:00 am Welcome
AUDITORIUM
Ron Brookmeyer, PhD, MS
Dean and distinguished professor of biostatistics
9:05 am Overview
James Macinko, PhD, MA
Associate dean for research and professor of health policy and management & community health sciences
9:10 am Panel 1: Artificial Intelligence & Data Science Powering Public Health
MODERATOR: Philip M. Massey, PhD ‘13, MPH ‘09
Associate professor and vice chair of community health sciences
Sijia Li, PhD
Assistant professor of biostatistics
W. Scott Comulada, DrPH ’06, MS ’00, MPH’ 98
Professor of health policy and management; professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences; director, Semel Institute Center for Community Health
Joann G. Elmore, MD, MPH
Professor of health policy and management; professor of medicine; director, UCLA National Clinician Scholars Program
10:00 am Panel 2: Combating Chronic & Infectious Diseases
MODERATOR: Kristen R. Choi, PhD, MS ‘18
Associate professor of nursing and assistant professor of health policy and management
Susan Babey, PhD
Senior research scientist and co-director of the Chronic Disease Research Program, UCLA Center for Health Policy Research; academic researcher in health policy and management
Roch A. Nianogo, MD, PhD ‘17, MPH ‘13
Assistant professor of epidemiology
Jason Xu, PhD
Associate professor of biostatistics
10:50 am Break LOBBY
11:00 am Keynote Address
AUDITORIUM Dr. Erica Pan
Director & state public health officer of the California Department of Public Health
12:00 pm Lunch & View Public Health Impact Poster Showcase
ROOF DECK with Student Authors & LOBBY
1:15 pm Presentation of the 2026 Lester Breslow Impact
Professor and vice chair of health policy and management; co-director for community outreach and engagement, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA; associate director, UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity
Alison Gemmill, PhD, MA, MPH
Associate professor of epidemiology
Yoshira Ornelas van Horne, PhD, MS
Assistant professor of environmental health sciences
Whitney N. Pirtle, PhD, MS
Associate professor of community health sciences
2:10 pm Panel 4: Protecting Health in a Changing Physical Environment
MODERATOR: Rachael M. Jones, PhD, CIH, MPH
Professor and chair of Environmental Health Sciences; director, Southern California Education and Research Center
Kathryn Leifheit, PhD, MSPH
Assistant professor of health policy and management
Falco J. Bargagli Stoffi, PhD, MSc
Assistant professor of biostatistics
Yifang Zhu, PhD ‘03
Professor of environmental health sciences
3:00 pm Research Powers Progress Reception LOBBY
4:00 pm Event Concludes
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Dr. Erica Pan, MD, MPH, FIDSA, FAAP
Director and State Public Health Officer
California
Department of Public Health
Dr. Erica Pan serves as director and state public health officer for the California Department of Public Health, a role she assumed on February 1, 2025. As CDPH director, Dr. Pan strives to embody and promote the values of dignity, equity, compassion and humility. She works with collaborative partnerships to communicate and empower communities and institutions to transform policies and systems to include a “health in all policies” approach, acknowledging that addressing the social determinants of health are fundamental to achieving healthy communities with thriving families and individuals. As California’s public health officer, Dr. Pan exercises leadership and legal authority to protect health and prevent disease.
Prior to becoming director, Dr. Pan was the deputy director of CDPH’s Center for Infectious Diseases and state epidemiologist beginning in July 2020. Dr. Pan was also the CDPH acting state public health officer from August 10, 2020 to January 3, 2021.
Before joining CDPH, Dr. Pan gained experience at the local level with a focus on infectious disease control & prevention, and public health emergency response. She served multiple roles at the Alameda County Public Health Department between 2011 and 2020, including health officer, director of communicable disease control and prevention, and deputy health officer. Dr. Pan also held several positions at the San Francisco Department of Public Health between 2004 and 2011.
Dr. Pan is a clinical professor for pediatric infectious diseases at the University of California, San Francisco. She maintained her clinical work in infectious diseases at San Francisco General Hospital and at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland.
Dr. Pan received her MD and MPH degrees from Tufts University School of Medicine, and completed her undergraduate education at Stanford University.
YOU’RE INVITED
PLEASE JOIN US IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE CONCLUSION OF THE PROGRAM TO CELEBRATE
WE WILL GATHER IN THE CNSI LOBBY FOR LIGHT
REFRESHMENTS AND CONTINUED CONVERSATIONS ABOUT THE INCREDIBLE IMPACT THAT OUR COMMUNITY MEMBERS ARE MAKING IN THE FIELD OF PUBLIC HEALTH.
POSTER SHOWCASE
UCLA Fielding School of Public Health students are driving innovations in public health research and practice under the mentorship of faculty and in pursuit of their own novel ideas. We are proud to feature their current work in an FSPH Student Impact Poster Showcase as part of Research, Innovation & Impact Day.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF OUR STUDENTS WHO SUBMITTED THEIR WORK
Submissions by master’s students and doctoral candidates from across the school are viewable in an online gallery at https://bit.ly/4lCcpc4
Posters on view today in the California NanoSystems Institute lobby represent the finalists as selected by the academic departments. One master’s and one doctoral submission have been selected by a distinguished committee of faculty to receive a 2026 Lester Breslow Impact Fellowship Award based on the quality of the research or practice project, its potential public health impact, and its clear communication of results and findings. We will recognize the finalists and announce the 2026 Lester Breslow Impact Fellows at the start of the afternoon session.
The Lester Breslow Impact Fellowship Award was established in honor of former FSPH dean and public health icon Dr. Lester Breslow, whose career in public health spanned more than 60 years.
The Lester Breslow Impact Fellowship upholds Dr. Breslow’s legacy by investing in future public health leaders and focusing on public health impact. Dr. Breslow’s own work on chronic disease prevention and health behavior intervention continues to yield insights in this new era of health promotion and wellness.
2026 FSPH STUDENT IMPACT POSTER FINALISTS
ADAM KONCSOL
PhD candidate, Health Policy & Management
Tar in the Fentanyl Era: Understanding Illicit Heroin Markets through a Community-Based Drug Checking Program
ISABELA CRUZ-VESPA
MS candidate, Community Health Sciences
Pesticide Exposure Among Campesinas: Lived Experiences in a Community Participatory Research Study
KELVIN NGUYEN
MPH candidate, Health Policy & Management
Communication, Collaboration, Community: Leveraging Cross-Sector Partnerships to Promote Access to Care Post-Big Beautiful Bill
TOMOKI OKUNO
PhD candidate, Biostatistics
Rank-Based Debiased Machine Learning for the Partially Linear Accelerated Failure Time Model
YI FANG
PhD candidate, Environmental Health Sciences
Range Hood Use and Effectiveness in Reducing Indoor Air Pollution During Gas and Induction Cooking
ANGELICA BARRIOS
MPH candidate, Community Health Sciences
Exclusionary Experiences Among Adults and Older Adults with Disabilities and Long-Term Care Needs
JAIMIE MILLIZENT LEE
MPH candidate, Epidemiology
How do Childhood Hardships Impact Odds of Perinatal Depressive Symptoms Among Birthing People in Pasadena (2017-2023)?
SERENA LIU
PhD candidate, Epidemiology
Cardiovascular Risk After Minimally Invasive Versus Open Esophagectomy: Observations from SEER–Medicare
XUMENG YAN
PhD candidate, Community Health Sciences
Mapping the Interrelations of Life Course Adversities, Collective Stressors, and Mental Health: A Network Analysis
YOOJIN CHO
MS candidate, Epidemiology
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)
Contribute to Inflammation in a California-Based Pregnancy Cohort (PARENTs)
THANK YOU
Organizing the FSPH Research, Innovation & Impact Day involved the time and talents of many collaborators. We offer our deepest thanks for the enthusiasm and creativity with which everyone approached this first event to showcase public health research and practice of our school.
2026 FSPH RESEARCH, INNOVATION & IMPACT DAY PROGRAM COMMITTEE
Catherine M. Crespi, PhD ‘04, MS ‘91
Beth Glenn, PhD, MS
Rachael Jones, PhD, CIH, MPH
Michael Prelip, DBA, MPH ‘85
Zuo-Feng Zhang, MD, PhD
2026 LESTER BRESLOW IMPACT FELLOWSHIP AWARD COMMITTEE
Abdelmonen A. Afifi, PhD, MS
Roshan Bastani, PhD, MA
May C. Wang, DrPH, MPH, MS
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR STAFF, STUDENTS AND PARTNERS WHO HELPED MAKE TODAY POSSIBLE:
FSPH Student Ambassadors
Kristie Allen
Carla Denly
Kaelyn Duke
Caroline Gallaher
Sharon Han
Janet Hung
Julienne Jose-Chen
Allison Kamerman
Rob King and the Little Pictures team
Mikaela Larecy
Mitchell Mangoba, Marc Roseboro, and the team at California
