SWEHSC Members and Trainees Attend the 2025 ISEE/ISES Conference
Several SWEHSC/MEZCOPH faculty attended and shared their research at this event
From left to right: Imran Mithu, Rietta Wagoner, PhD, Audrey Yang, Rebecca Ramos, and Tina Fingesi-Johnson.
The International Society of Exposure Science (ISES) and the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE) held their joint conference from August 17-20, 2025, in Atlanta, Georgia. ISES and ISEE provide opportunities for career development, exchanges of innovative research and ideas, and networking opportunities for exposure scientists and environmental epidemiologists worldwide. This conference featured a women’s networking event, multiple symposia showcasing research, poster sessions, and flash talks to encourage conversation and collaboration.
Several members of the Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center (SWEHSC) at the University of Arizona attended, including Monica Ramirez-Andreotta, PhD, Melissa Furlong, PhD, Joe Hoover, PhD, and Chris Lim, PhD. Several post-docs and students from the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (MEZCOPH) presented their research as well, including Rietta Wagoner, PhD, Yifan Chao, Reagan Conner, Tina Fingesi-Johnson, James Hollister, Imran Mithu, Rebecca Ramos, Audrey Yang, and Jeonggyo Yoon.
Amanda Wilson, PhD, assistant professor in MEZCOPH and SWEHSC member, received the 2025 Joan M. Daisey Outstanding Young Scientist Award at the conference. This award recognizes outstanding contributions to the science of human exposure analysis by a young scientist. Some of Dr. Wilson’s research examines risk tradeoffs associated with hygiene protocols in health care settings. An example of this is work-related asthma risks posed by intensified cleaning and disinfection protocols for workers versus infections driven by less intensive protocols. Dr. Wilson seeks to apply exposure science and engineering methodologies with meaningful community engagement to increase public health impact, and this award highlights her hard work and dedication toward her goal. To read more about Dr. Wilson’s award, click here.
Dr. Ramirez-Andreotta, Associate Professor of Environmental Science at the College of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences (CALES), was the first presenter during the symposium session “From Data to Connection: Best Practices for Engaging Communities in Sharing Research Findings on Exposures”. Her presentation, titled “Co-created environmental health science: Centering community, culture, and design for shared learning, data engagement, and report back”, explores how participatory research approaches can address the social/political/cultural complexities present in environmental justice communities. Dr. Ramirez-Andreotta also participated in the poster presentation session, displaying her poster titled “Toxic layering and compound extremes: Contaminant exposures in rural, environmental justice mining communities”.
Many SWEHSC and MEZCOPH presenters belong to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) T32 training program. This program supplies grants that support predoctoral and/or postdoctoral researchers studying environmental health sciences. Tina Fingesi-Johnson, NIEHS T32 Predoctoral Fellow, presented during the same symposium, with her work titled “Evaluating Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Report-Back Impact on Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors”, which assessed participants' baseline PFAS knowledge and concerns about PFAS exposure.
Dr. Melissa Furlong, assistant professor in MEZCOPH and SWEHSC member, presented in the Health Impacts of Firefighting-Related Chemical Exposures symposium, with a talk titled, “PFAS levels and Differential Proteomics in Firefighters and Other Front Line Workers.” Other trainees in Dr. Furlong’s lab also presented their work, including Dr. Wagoner, Audrey Yang, and Rebecca Ramos. Dr. Rietta Wagoner, NIEHS T32 Postdoctoral Fellow, presented her work titled “Residential Herbicide Exposure and Eclampsia Risk During Pregnancy”, a literature review that synthesizes current epidemiological evidence on the relationship between maternal heat exposure and birth outcomes. In addition, Audrey Yang, another NIEHS T32 Predoctoral Fellow, presented a poster on her study “Maternal Demographic Predictors of Agricultural Pesticide Exposures in the Arizona Pregnant Women’s Environmental and Reproductive Outcomes Study (2006–2020).” Rebecca Ramos, a PhD student in Dr. Furlong’s lab, presented her poster titled “Extreme Heat Exposure During Pregnancy and Birth Outcomes: A Review of Epidemiological Evidence and Policy Implications”.
Dr. Chris Lim, assistant professor in MEZCOPH and SWEHSC member, presented during the “Climate and Health: Investigating Effects of Heatwaves and Hot Weather” symposium, and his research was highlighted in several other sessions. One of Dr. Lim’s PhD students, Yifan Chao, presented their poster titled “Are Clean Air Equally Shared? A Gini-Based Approach to PM2.5 Inequality”. Jeonggyo Yoon, another PhD student working with Dr. Lim, also presented her poster titled “Associations between air pollution and cancer survivorship in the U.S: the NIH-AARP Diet and Health study”.
Other MEZCOPH researchers that presented their work include:
James Hollister - PhD student working with Drs. Jefferey Burgess & Melissa Furlong at the Center for Firefighter Health Collaborative Research
Presentation: “Effects of Intermittent Fasting and Moderate Physical Activity on Epigenetic Age in Firefighters: A Randomized Controlled Trial”
Reagan Conner - PhD Student working with Drs. Jefferey Burgess & Melissa Furlong at the Center for Firefighter Health Collaborative Research
Presentation: “Occupational and Non-Occupational Predictors of PFAS Concentrations in Firefighters”
Imran Hossain Mithu - PhD Student at the Southwest Center on Resilience for Climate Change & Health (SCORCH) and Dr. Paloma Beamer’s trainee
Poster: “Assessing Heat Action Planning in Arizona Through Hierarchy of Controls and Socio-ecological Model Lens”
Joe Hoover – Principal Investigator at SCORCH and assistant professor at CALES
Presentation: “Generating spatial prediction surfaces for groundwater arsenic in rural areas of the western United States using machine learning and GIS”
Poster: “Evaluation of Fluoride-Containing Groundwater and Its Impact on Human, Livestock, and Environmental Health in the U.S. Southwest”
Complete list of SWEHSC presentations at the ISES/ISEE Conference Proceedings (for the full interactive conference schedule, click here.
Community Involvement in Environmental Health and Beyond: Lessons Learned and Upcoming Challenges (Wagoner R, Honan J)
Residential Herbicide Exposure and Eclampsia Risk During Pregnancy (Wagoner R, Yang A, Ramos R, Liu T, Furlong M)
PFAS Levels and Differential Proteomics in Firefighters and Other Front-Line Workers (Furlong M, Liu T, Hollister J, Beitel S, Burgess J)
Extreme Heat Exposure During Pregnancy and Birth Outcomes: A Review of Epidemiological Evidence and Policy Implications (Ramos R, Ramirez P, Wagoner R, Liu T)
Assessing Heat Action Planning in Arizona Through Hierarchy of Controls and Socio-ecological Model Lens (Mithu I, Beamer P, Ingram A, Arora M)
Trends in Heat-related EMS Activations and Transports in the U.S (Lim C, Race J, Kaur P, Keith L, Kim H, Wei R, Li X, Gerald L, Mann C)
Maternal Demographic Predictors of Agricultural Pesticide Exposures in the Arizona Pregnant Women's Environmental and Reproductive Outcomes Study (2006-2022) (Yang A, Wagoner R, Furlong M)
Are Clean Air Equally Shared? A Gini-Based Approach to PM2.5 Inequality (Chao Y, Lim C)
Environmental arsenic exposure and lung function in Yaqui children from southern Sonora, Mexico: Pilot study. (Dévora A, Burgess J, Beamer P, Guillen-Rodriguez M, Vargas-Estrada A, Mondaca-Fernández I, Balderas-Cortés, Meza-Montenegro M)
Generating spatial prediction surfaces for groundwater arsenic in rural areas of the western United States using machine learning and GIS (Nuanez A, Martinez A, Hoover J)
Evaluating Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Report-Back Impact on Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors (Fingesi T, Boronow K, Lothrop N, Sullivan D, Beitel S, Hollister J, Gallardo P, Shirazi F, Brody J, Lutrick K, Ellingson K, Burgess J, Beamer P)
Evaluation of Fluoride-Containing Groundwater and Its Impact on Human, Livestock, and Environmental Health in the U.S. Southwest (Whitmore C, Ingram J, Rondon A, Hoover J)
Associations between air pollution and cancer survivorship in the U.S: the NIH-AARP Diet and Health study (Yoon J, Jones R, Fisher J, Thurston G, Lim C)
Effects of Intermittent Fasting and Moderate Physical Activity on Epigenetic Age in Firefighters: A Randomized Controlled Trial (Hollister J, Conner R, Burgess J, Furlong M)
Occupational and Non-Occupational Predictors of PFAS Concentrations in Firefighters (Conner R, Hollister J, Furlong M, Gulotta J, Burgess J)
Occupational and Personal Exposures to Multiple Chemical Classes in Black Hairstylists using Silicone Wristbands: A Pilot Study (Pollack A, Stapelton H, DeSantiago M, Tore G, Fandino Del Rio M, Randolph K, Davis S, Pool W, Mandeville J, Marroquin J, Thornton O, Beamer P, Palmer K, Flaws J, Quiros-Alcala L)
Beyond the Visible: Non-Targeted Detection of Occupational Airborne Exposures among Black Hairdressers (Quiros-Alcala L, Pollitt K, Fandino Del Rio M, Randolph K, Davis S, Pool W, DeSantiago M, Stapelton H, Tore G, McInerney M, Mandeville J, Marroquin J, Zhou J, Lin E, McCormack M, Rule A, Beamer P, Palmer K, Flaws J, Rebuli M, Pollack A)
The Association Between Urinary Biomarkers of Air Pollutants and Sleep Health: Findings from the U.S. and Korean National Survey Data (Gurmu B, Lim C, Rule A, Kim S)
Effect of indoor air quality on potential risk of obstructive sleep apnea among Korean adults: results from Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (Kim S, Gurmu B, Kim M, Song C, Lee M, Lim C, Rule A, Yang K)
Dust Loadings Collected from Children’s Hands and Surfaces Within Residential Settings. (Fayad Martinez C, Cordovez A, Gidley M, Solo-Gabriele H, Pourmand A, Sharifi A, Abelabu F, Beamer P, Ogunseye O, Ferguson A)
Quantifying Children's Hands and Mouth Contact Patterns with Indoor Surfaces: A Micro-Activity Analysis Across Three States (Adelabu F, Floyd K, Dawkins D, Brathwaite I, Holloway-Johnson J, Solo-Gabriele H, Fayad Martinez C, Gidley M, Beamer P, Ogunseye O, Ferguson A)