Yoshira “Yoshi” Ornelas Van Horne
Dr. Yoshira “Yoshi” Ornelas Van Horne is an exposure scientist and environmental justice scholar. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences in the Fielding School of Public Health at the University of California Los Angeles. Her research focuses on addressing unequal exposures to harmful contaminants that affect structurally marginalized communities. Her active projects are focused on utilizing novel methods for source apportionment of air pollution, characterizing exposures from petrochemical facilities through biomonitoring of volatile organic compounds with community partners in Louisiana, and assessing the impacts of continued methyl bromide usage in California. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and CNN.
Her research is currently funded by the JPB Environmental Health Fellowship through Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the HEI Rosenblith New Investigator award, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, and the Resources Legacy Fund (Beyond Petrochemicals).
Most recently, Yoshira served on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee on State-of-the-Science and the Future of Cumulative Impact Assessment. She holds a PhD and an MS in Environmental Health Sciences, and BS in Microbiology from the University of Arizona. She is committed to building health equity through community-driven research and is passionate about research translation and communication. To this end, her work not only characterizes inequities in cumulative exposures but also supports community-driven solutions and training efforts.
