Lauralee Fernandez
Biography
I am an environmental epidemiologist with extensive experience leading community-based research and a passion for mentoring public health professionals to leverage epidemiologic methods in the pursuit of social and environmental justice. As the Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Environmental Health Epidemiologist at Washington County (Oregon), I have taken the lead on building collaborations with partners to improve climate emergency surveillance systems and inform climate adaptation plans with an emphasis on improving our ability to better understand who is most impacted. As a researcher with OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, I played a key role in developing community based participatory research and development of implementation research surrounding the control of parasitosis induced epilepsy. I was a primary investigator on a Fogarty grant and continued work as an OSLER fellow that resulted in one of the first studies documenting heavy metal biomarkers in humans downstream from decades of gold mining in Tumbes, Peru.
Education, Degrees
2007-2011 B.A. in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics & Spanish Literature – Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA.
2014-2016 MPH in Epidemiology Oregon State College of Public Health and Human Services – University, Corvallis, OR
2016-2023 Epidemiology PhD – Oregon Health and Sciences University and Portland State University, School of Public Health, Portland, OR
¹ CEPH Primary Instructional Faculty
² CEPH Non-Primary Instructional Faculty
Experienced Faculty With Diverse Backgrounds
More than 150 faculty members work within the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health. They have a wide range of expertise, from monitoring and assessing health risks and opportunities in populations, to helping build health-supporting social environments through policy, advocacy, and programs. They are educators, advisors, researchers, practitioners and community leaders. They come from backgrounds in quantitative, behavioral, environmental and social sciences, policy and government, exercise and health sciences and anthropology, among many other areas. They all work in collaboration with each other and with community partners, and are especially focused on the training and education of future leaders and practitioners in the public health fields.
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