Doctoral Student Profiles

Cynthia AdebayoCynthia Adebayo, BS, is a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences with an interest in combining science and community partnerships to tackle environmental justice and better the health of vulnerable communities. Cynthia's research focuses on analyzing the metabolic exposome to characterize exposure to PFAS and other contaminants from personal product usage, as well as diet. 

Adedamola AdenekanAdedamola Adenekan is a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences and an international student from Nigeria. His research interests lie at the intersection of environmental health and toxicology, focusing on the impact of environmental stressors on both ecosystems and human health. Specifically, Adedamola is dedicated to understanding how agrochemicals, herbicides, and other pollutants affect ecological systems and human well-being, especially in the context of developing countries. He is excited to work with Dr. Manz on a project concerning the destruction of PFAS. Adedamola is passionate about bridging the gap between academic research and practical environmental solutions, with a long-term goal of establishing a research lab in Nigeria to conduct impactful public health research and contribute to global advancements in environmental health.

David AguilarDavid Aguilar is a doctoral student in Environmental Health Science, a Rackham Merit Fellowship (RMF) awardee and an Environmental Toxicology and Epidemiology Training Grant (ETEP) trainee. He is interested in characterizing novel environmental exposure-associated biomarkers and pathologies in various organ systems using integrated spatial transcriptomics, imaging mass spectrometry, epigenomics, digital pathology, and machine learning. Additionally, he is interested in building biomonitoring/epidemiological tools that harness epigenetic and medical imaging data in addition to traditional modalities.

Sydney DameSydney Dame is a first-year student in the Toxicology PhD program in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, and an Environmental Toxicology and Epidemiology Training Grant (ETEP) trainee. They have a B.S. in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology and worked as a research laboratory technician in Cellular and Developmental Biology before pursuing Toxicology. They are broadly interested in the relationship between environmental health and human health, biochemical mechanism of toxicity, metabolomics, epigenetics, and exposure and risk assessment. 

Jarrod Eaton Jarrod Eaton, MPH, is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Environmental Health Science. His research focuses on biomarkers of exposure to air pollution and their association to maternal health birth outcomes, such as preterm birth. He is also interested in understanding the relationship among macroenvironmental exposures (e.g. proximity to major roads, proximity to greenspace) and various birth outcomes, as well.

Ariana HaidariAriana Haidari, MS, RD, is a doctoral student in Environmental Health Sciences. She she aims to study how nutritional and toxicant exposures across the life span alter the epigenome, and how these alterations are related to detectable changes in biomarker and metabolomic measurements. A registered dietitian since 2016, Ariana is also interested in relating epigenomic data into clinical practice.

Jie HeJie He, MS, is passionate about understanding how noise exposures contribute to public health challenges. Jie is interested in utilizing statistical analysis and machine learning techniques to explore these complex relationships. Jie received a BS in Nursing from Peking University in 2017 and an MS in Industrial Hygiene from the University of Michigan in 2023.

Tomoko IshikawaTomoko Ishikawa, MS, (she/her) is a doctoral student studying Toxicology in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. Her research interests center around early life exposure to environmental toxicants and chronic health outcomes. She is particularly interested in investigating the sex-specific epigenetic impacts of Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and arsenic on heart health. Her methodological interests include using human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte (hiPSC-CM) and mouse models. She aims to determine the molecular mechanisms and develop potential interventions that mitigate the effects on health and well-being outcomes in diverse populations.

Hailey JenkinsHaley Jenkins, MPH, RD (she/her) is a third-year EHS doctoral student in the Meeker-Watkins lab. She is interested in using biomarker epidemiology to understand the impact of anthropogenic chemical exposures (e.g., pesticides) on prenatal and perinatal health outcomes and infant/child development. Haley hopes her future research endeavors positively impact the vast existing health disparities in environmental exposures and ultimately inform policy change to protect vulnerable populations.

Xin LiXin Li, MS, is a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. She is interested in public health issues related to microorganisms and wastewater-based epidemiology. Specifically, she aims to obtain information on the health status and spread of antibiotic resistance in communities from wastewater they discharged. She is currently involved in a wastewater surveillance project for COVID-19 in which she is working with her teammates on building up methods to monitor the spread of the disease by monitoring genetic materials of viruses in wastewater.

Evelyn MateiEvelyn Matei, MD/PhD student in the University of Michigan Medical Scientist Training Program. She has completed half of her medical training so far, and is now pursuing her doctoral degree in Toxicology in the department of Environmental Health Sciences. She is broadly interested in the effects of environmental toxicant and pesticide exposure on health, particularly in underserved, rural, and urban communities disproportionately affected by environmental poisoning. She is excited to work with Dr. Colacino and Dr. Bakulski on a project concerning the effects of lead exposure on the development of neurodegenerative disease. In terms of clinical interests, she hopes to pursue residency in either Emergency Medicine or Family Medicine, because of the connections these fields have to rural health and toxicology. In her free time, she enjoys listening to/playing music, reading, spending time with cats, and doing anything outdoors. 

Edith MercadoEdith Mercado, is a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the School of Public Health. Her research is focused on investigating the impact of environmental chemical exposures (such as metals, pesticides, or PFAS) on human health in underrepresented and marginalized communities. Additionally, she wants to enhance her science communication skills to effectively convey her findings in both English and Spanish.

Lauren MiddletonLauren Middleton, MPH (she/her) is an MD/PhD student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. Her research interests include how environmental chemical exposures affect the immune system. She is particularly excited about studying associations between antibody responses to infections and chemical biomarkers. Lauren plans to use a combination of environment-wide association studies using NHANES, organoid co-culture, and single-cell immune profiling to investigate immune system function. Clinically, she is currently interested in surgery, pathology, or infectious disease. In her free time, she enjoys playing volleyball and hanging out with her family’s dogs.

Amaleah MirtiAmaleah Mirti MPH (she/her) is a first-year doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. She is broadly interested in diseases and adverse medical conditions that affect women’s health and the roles that the environment and society serve in exacerbating those pathways. In the long-term, she hopes to focus on the relationship between endocrine-disrupting chemicals and PCOS and endometriosis.

Bethany PaceBethany Pace is a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, with a concentration in toxicology and a specific interest in investigating the short-term and long-term consequences of chemical hazard exposure. 

Shannon ParkSeonyoung (Shannon) Park, MPH, is a PhD candidate in Environmental Health Sciences. Shannon's research centers on investigating the impact of environmental chemical exposures, including endocrine-disrupting chemicals and air pollution, during pregnancy on maternal and children's health. Her research interests also encompass the utilization of advanced mixture modeling and mediation analysis techniques to gain a comprehensive understanding of real-world exposure scenarios and the underlying physiological mechanisms through which these exposures influence the development and etiology of complex diseases.

Meaghan ReaMeaghan Rea, MPH, is a doctoral student studying toxicology in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences and a Genome Sciences Training Grant (GSTP) trainee. Meaghan's interests lie in understanding how environmental contaminant exposures alter placental and fetal development, and how these exposures impact the placental immune response and contribute to intrauterine infections or other adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Kimberley Sala-HamrickKimberley (Kimmie) Sala-Hamrick (she/her) is a PhD student pursuing a degree in Toxicology. She has a B.S. in Biology from the University of Michigan and worked as a research assistant at Wayne State University School of Medicine before starting graduate school. Her research projects focus on developmental exposures and their possibility to affect piRNA biology in the heart. In her free time, Kimmie enjoys exploring the great outdoors and her cats, Aang and Bumi.

Esha ShahEsha Shah, MPH (she/her/hers) is a first-year EHS doctoral student interested in studying how environmental exposures impact human health, particularly in marginalized communities. Esha has a background in WASH and is also interested in studying toxicants in drinking water. In her free time, Esha enjoys baking, hikes, and exploring new coffee shops.

Abas ShkembiAbas Shkembi, MS, is interested in connecting the dots between environmental and occupational exposures and their role in cumulative environmental injustices using spatial statistics and machine learning techniques. Abas received his BS in Statistics, minoring in Environmental Science, from the University of Michigan in 2020, and an MS in Industrial Hygiene, also from the University of Michigan in 2023

Ram SiwakotiRam C. Siwakoti, MS, is a doctoral student focusing on environmental epidemiology in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. He is broadly interested in applying advanced statistical and data science methods to examine the health effects of various chemicals, including per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). In addition, Ram is also interested in studying the combined health effects of mixtures within or across different chemical classes.

Jennifer SmithJennifer Smith is a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences pursuing a PhD in Toxicology. She is interested in the effects of environmental toxicants on gene expression, and their subsequent contributions to abnormal neurobehavioral deficits in adulthood. She has a passion for maternal and fetal health, and hopes to study the effects of these gene-toxicant interactions in utero. Jennifer hopes to elucidate the various barriers that may exist amongst different populations because of epigenetic setbacks that have occurred as a result non-consensual toxic exposure. She seeks to use her research as a tool to advocate for widespread policy change in urban and rural areas, and other locations of uniquely high toxic exposure and poor health outcomes.

Kat SpringerKatherine (Kat) Springer, MPH, is a doctoral student in the Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) program at the University of Michigan. 

philip steenstraPhilip Steenstra, M.S., MMAS, is a doctoral student in the Toxicology program of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. His research interests revolve around assessing human exposure, measuring long-term health outcomes, and determining environmental transport and fate of chemical hazards within the environment. 

savannah sturla iziarrySavannah Sturla Irizarry (she/her) a doctoral candidate in Environmental Health Sciences. She is interested in how environmental exposures contribute to disparities in adverse birth and developmental outcomes. Savannah aims to integrate biomarker epidemiology with mixed-methods and community-based frameworks in her work. Savannah's dissertation focuses on prenatal exposure to metal and metalloid mixtures through drinking water and child neurodevelopment outcomes in Puerto Rico using both quantitative and qualitative investigation. 

Anupon TadeeAnupon Tadee, MS, (he/him) is a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences – Industrial Hygiene. He has a BPH in Occupational Health and Safety and MS in Toxicology from the University in Thailand. He is broadly interested in the investigation of health and safety of workers in various fields. His dissertation aims to understand the occupational hazards, risk factors, and health and safety perspectives of researchers. In his free time, he enjoys walking in natural places, watching youtube, and relaxing at home.

Susie ProctorSusie Proctor (MPH) is a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. She is broadly interested in researching human exposure to industrial contaminants, such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, in vulnerable and impacted communities. Her goal is to conduct rigorous environmental exposure and epidemiology studies which can be translated into evidence for remediation interventions and policy changes. She is primarily interested in understanding how early life exposures lead to future adverse health outcomes.

Lauren WardLauren Ward, MPH&TM, (she/her) is a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. She is interested in the health impacts of environmental and occupational exposures to infectious agents, and
chemicals. Lauren's research uses epidemiological approaches to examine the relationships between such exposures and epigenetic outcomes, as well as the impacts of toxicant exposures on immune system function. Her current research  focuses on the impacts of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) exposure on epigenetic age and infectious disease immunity in firefighters and the relationship between environmental PFAS exposure and immune function in adolescents in Nepal.

Dongyue WangDongyue Wang, MS, is a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences where he also completed his MS degree in 2023. He is broadly interested in the relationship between environmental exposure and epigenetic regulation, especially a class of small non-coding RNA, piRNA. He aims to identify the potential of piRNA to serve as a biomarker for environmental exposure and ultimately to use it as a tool for epigenetic editing.

Meizhen YaoMeizhen Yao, MS, MB, is a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health Science. She is interested in investigating the impact of a broader range of preconception and prenatal environmental exposures on reproductive health and child development, with a particular focus on their joint impact. She also aspires to incorporate 'omic' technologies into environmental epidemiology study designs to explore the potential biological mechanisms underlying the connections between risk factors and health outcomes.

Xin ZhangXin Zhang, MPH, (she/her) is a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. She is interested in occupational exposure to physical agents, with a focus on noise exposure, hearing loss, and related health outcomes. In addition, Xin is interested in integrating novel sampling method to collect exposure data on a larger scale and applying advanced statistical models to explore the exposure-response relationships.