Research Team

Giselle Bellia is a PhD Student at the Yale School of Public Health, following her graduation from the department of Environmental Health Sciences MPH program. She holds a BA in psychology from Seton Hall University. She is interested in psychiatric epidemiology, with a specific interest in environmental influences on fetal and childhood neurodevelopment. She also enjoys learning about innovative research and statistical methodologies to explore these interests.

A native of Worcester, Massachusetts, Cindy Nguyen is an undergraduate student at Yale College majoring in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and a Master's student at the Yale School of Public Health where she is passionate about learning how environmental factors can affect maternal health and child development. In her free time, she enjoys crocheting and biking with friends.

Yunyue Shi is currently a second-year Master of Public Health student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health. She is interested in researching environmental epidemiology, specifically the impact of air pollution and environmental factors on children's and maternal health, as well as understanding the disparities in exposures affecting vulnerable populations. She graduated from Xiamen University in 2021 with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science.

Victoria McClare is currently a second-year Master of Public Health Student in the department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. She is interested in health disparities in maternal health and individuals with sickle disease. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2022 with a Bachelor of Science in Public Health.

Jingyuan is a fourth-year PhD student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. She holds a master's degree in Social and Behavioral Sciences from YSPH and completed her undergraduate studies in Psychology at UC, San Diego. Her current research interests center around the early origins of neuropsychiatric disorders and possible transmission of disease risks across multiple generations due to adverse intrauterine exposures.

Haoran is a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. Her research interests center around the understanding of how environmental and social factors during critical periods of early life development may affect the risk of health conditions in pregnancy complications, neonatal outcomes, and childhood neurodevelopment. She has particular interest in the application of novels study designs in the epidemiological research. With backgrounds of environmental science and engineering in her undergraduate study, Haoran is also interested in exposure related research like chemical mixtures and geospatial analysis.

Over the past two decades, Livia (Lia) has worked closely with multiple principal investigators, co-investigators, collaborators, research staff, students, post-doctoral associates, and business office personnel supporting complex grant and contract management processes. She has expertise in reviewing, submitting, and completing IRB applications, modifications, and continuing reviews for projects involving human subjects research, for both the Internal Review Board (IRB) at Yale and external IRBs in several States in the US. Her primary goal is to offer the highest level of support for faculty in their research projects to further Yale's mission to preserve as well as to add to the body of human knowledge and expand our understanding of complicated scientific questions while seeking out resources and pathways to find their answers.

Dr. Esen is a postdoctoral researcher from the Department of Clinical Epidemiology (DCE) at Aarhus University in Denmark. She is currently undertaking a two-year research stay at the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH). Dr. Esen holds a Master's degree in statistics and a PhD in health sciences from Aarhus University. Her research focuses on data management, data analysis, and statistical and epidemiological methods, with a particular emphasis on causal inference methods and pharmacoepidemiology. Her current research involves developing algorithms for target trial emulation. She has been involved in numerous national and international research projects, demonstrating a strong track record of collaboration. This includes working with researchers at Stanford University and the Karolinska Institute, as well as contributing to large-scale international initiatives such as the Nordic Pregnancy Drug Safety Study (NorPreSS). Her work has been recognized through publications in high-impact journals. She was awarded the Best Flash Talk Prize in 2020 and the prestigious Tove Nilsson Research Prize in 2024 for significant contributions to the field of epidemiology.