Jaia Gallegos has been recognized as the 2024 recipient of the Bernard D. Goldstein Student Award in Environmental Health Disparities and Public Health Practice at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health.
A student in the school’s accelerated bachelor’s and master’s program, Gallegos is pursuing an MPH in epidemiology with a certificate in health equity. She focuses her research on social epidemiology, which combines her passion for data justice, sociology and philosophy to advance equitable health outcomes. Gallegos is mentored by Beth Hoffman, assistant professor of behavioral and community health sciences, and serves as a youth collaborative facilitator for an R01 study examining nicotine and tobacco product misinformation on youth-oriented social media platforms. The principal investigator on the study is Jaime Sidani, associate professor of behavioral and community health sciences.*
“My project highlights how tobacco is poisoning both our planet and digital spaces,” Gallegos explains. “By engaging Black, Hispanic and sexual and gender minority youth as scientific partners in monthly collaborative meetings, we aim to reduce misinformation, lower tobacco use and promote environmental justice.”
Empowering youth to combat tobacco-related misinformation directly advances environmental health equity, she adds.
Gallegos is committed to ensuring that data accurately reflects the lived experiences of communities. “This means engaging directly with community members and developing thoughtful, accessible data visualizations that inform decision-making and drive meaningful change,” she says.
Established in 2005 by Pitt Public Health Dean Emeritus Bernard Goldstein and Russellyn Carruth, an adjunct professor of environmental and occupational health, the Bernard D. Goldstein Student Award provides $2,000 in support for research and education. The award, given annually through a competitive application process, alternates between the fields of environmental health disparities and public health practice. The selection process for this award was administered by dedicated staff at the school’s Center for Health Equity.
*In addition to Beth Hoffman, co-investigators on the R01 study include University of Pittsburgh faculty members Maya Ragavan, MD, MPH, Cesar Escobar-Viera, MD, PhD, Elizabeth Miller, MD, PhD, Kar-Hai Chu, PhD, Beth Hoffman, PhD, MPH and Esa Davis, MD, MPH, and Ariel Shensa, PhD of Duquesne University.