STUDENT: Vanessa Galaviz
Environmental and Occupational Hygiene, PhD
Education
BS, Biochemistry/Cell Biology, University of California San Diego
MPH, Environmental and Occupational Health, San Diego State University
Advisor
Michael Yost
Research
Vanessa is a second year student at UW. After finishing her first year, she completed a summer industrial hygiene internship with Chevron. As an intern, she performed exposure assessments on various carcinogens and monitored for various physical and chemical agents. Prior to attending UW, Vanessa worked as a research assistant for the California EPA. It was a year long project looking at children's environmental and cultural exposures to lead in the Latino community. During this time she completed her masters thesis - Quantifying glutathione S-transferase P1 and Mu (detoxifying enzymes) mRNA levels in relation to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-DNA adducts in placenta tissues from mothers residing in Mexico. During her undergraduate years, Vanessa worked at the Salk Institute, for three years, in the Cellular Neurobiology lab. She was a research technician looking at genetic mutations in lysosomal transport genes and their role in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Vanessa is looking forward to finding a dissertation project that encompasses her passion of wanting to make an impact in preventing or reducing harmful exposures in susceptible populations.
Extracurricular Interests
Watching and playing sports (particularly soccer and softball), going to the gym, camping, fishing, riding seadoos and ATVs, beach biking, barbequing, scrapbooking, painting, reading, and writing poetry. The number one thing is hanging out with family.
