Natasha DeJarnett (she/her) is an assistant professor in the Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute at the University of Louisville Division of Environmental Medicine researching the health impacts of extreme heat exposure and environmental health disparities. In addition, she is a professorial lecturer in Environmental and Occupational Health at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. Natasha is a graduate of University of Louisville, where she completed her PhD and Masters of Public Health, both concentrating in environmental health sciences. In her postdoctoral studies, she was awarded a fellowship by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to investigate cardiovascular risks of air pollution exposures. In 2015, she became the recipient of the prestigious Impact Award from the Society of Toxicology’s Cardiovascular Toxicology Specialty Section for her 2014 paper “Acrolein Exposure is Associated with Increased Cardiovascular Disease Risk.” Natasha was named 2017 Alumna of the Year for the University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences and concurrently awarded designation in the class of 2017 Alumni Fellows. Prior to becoming an assistant professor, she was interim associate director of Program and Partnership Development at the National Environmental Health Association, leading the areas of research, climate and health, and children’s environmental health. She also previously served as a policy analyst at the American Public Health Association, where she led the Natural Environment portfolio, including air and water exposures along with climate change. Natasha is a member of the EPA’s Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee, the Governing Board of Citizens’ Climate Education, the Board of Directors for Physicians for Social Responsibility, the BTS Center Board of Trustees, the Advisory Board for APHA’s Center for Climate, Health, and Equity, and the Steering Committee for the International Transformational Resilience Coalition, and special advisor to the Environmental Health & Equity Collaborative.
Natasha will discuss Green Heart Louisville, a first-of-its-kind scientific experiment that will test if increasing green space in a neighborhood will improve air quality and human health. Within the project, she will investigate how the stress of discrimination may mediate or modify the relationship between environmental exposures and health risks.
Twitter:
