IRACDA Scholar: Lissa Soares, Ph.D.
Lissa Soares
PhD: Environmental Health Sciences
IRACDA Placement: Department of Environmental Sciences
Email: Lissa.Soares@stonybrookmedicine.edu
Lissa is a global scholar whose interest and expertise are in population-based research on the role of environmental pollution on human health and disease across the life course. She earned a masters in public health (track: disaster management, 2017) and a Ph.D. in environmental health sciences in 2020. Her dissertation research examined concomitant exposures to toxic methylmercury and beneficial nutrients (dietary fatty acids and selenium) via maternal fish consumption in areas of Suriname impacted by gold mining activities that release mercury into the environment. She is committed to work in the best interest of susceptible communities, by addressing ways to eliminate health disparities through disease prevention and control.
Under the mentorship of environmental epidemiologist Dr. Meliker, Lissa’s current postdoctoral research experience uniquely involves practical experience with multi-institutional studies and interdisciplinary teamwork to assess the relationship between chronic exposure to cadmium and muscle health in older adults.
Why I chose to join Stony Brook IRACDA : I wanted to be a part of the program’s vibrant community of mentors and scholars in training. Secondly, I wanted to develop my portfolio for a research and teaching career in academia by adding pedagogy training and teaching experience.