People

Vasilis Vasiliou, is Professor and Chair of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. He received his BSc in Chemistry (1983) and PhD in Biochemical Pharmacology (1988) from the University of Ioannina, Greece. He then trained in gene-environment interactions, molecular toxicology and pharmacogenetics at the Department of Environmental Health in the College of Medicine at the University of Cincinnati (1991-1995). In 1996, he joined the faculty of the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy where he rose through the ranks to become Professor and Director of the Toxicology Graduate Program. Since 2008, he was also Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. In July 2014, he joined the faculty of Yale University in his new position. Professor Vasiliou has established an internationally-recognized research program that has been continuously funded by NEI/NIH and NIAAA/NIH since 1997, and recently NIEHS. His research interests include the etiology and molecular mechanisms of environmentally-induced human disease, such as liver disease, obesity & diabetes, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. His research focuses on the means by which the exposome (total exposures throughout life), metabolism (specifically aldehyde dehydrogenases and cytochrome P-450s) and antioxidants (glutathione and catalase) contribute to human health and disease. His laboratory utilizes state-of-the-art integrated system approaches that include metabolomics, lipidomics, exposomics, tissue imaging mass spectrometry, deep-learning, as well as human cohorts and genetically-engineered mouse models in order to elucidate mechanisms, and to discover biomarkers and novel interventions for human disease. Dr Vasiliou is the director of the NIEHS-funded P42 Yale Superfund Research Center and also the director of the NIAAA-funded R24-Resource Center for Mouse Models and Metabolomics Tools to Investigate Alcohol Metabolism and Tissue Injury. Dr. Vasiliou has published over 250 papers and edited three books on Alcohol and Cancer. Dr. Vasiliou is the editor of Human Genomics and serves on the editorial boards of several toxicology and visual sciences journals. Professor Vasiliou is committed to training the next generation of scientists. At the University of Colorado, he was the Director of the Environmental and Molecular Toxicology Graduate Program for 15 years. At Yale he leads an NIAAA-funded T32 Translational Alcohol Research Program (TARP) Training Program for post-doctoral fellows, and an NIHES -funded R25 Summer Research Experience in Environmental Health (SREEH) Training Program that introduce undergraduate students in Connecticut (CT) to Environmental Health Research. Dr. Vasiliou has trained mentored and advised more than 60 trainees ranging from MPH and PhD students to postdoctoral fellows and junior faculties.

Soma Barsen is a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health. Her PhD research focuses on nano- and microplastics, evaluating exposures and assessing the associated health risks. Soma earned her undergraduate degree in cell biology and neuroscience from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. She then pursued a Master of Public Policy (MPP) at Simon Fraser University's School of Public Policy to better understand how science can inform public policy and the need to incorporate multiple perspectives, disciplines, and analytical methods. As part of her MPP, she focused on driving evidence-based change by using scientific findings as the foundation for policymaking. Soma’s master's thesis was a novel study she independently designed, exploring household sources of microplastics and strategies to develop effective interventions at the individual, community, and national levels to reduce emissions, exposures, and ecological impacts. Her microplastics and policy research was awarded the top thesis prize at the School of Public Policy and the Gold Prize at the 2021 Canadian National Student and Thought Leadership Awards competition. Further expanding her expertise in environmental research, she earned a Master of Environmental Science (MESc) from the Yale School of Environment, where she applied her research framework to Los Angeles, California. To support evidence-based policymaking, Soma has authored two comprehensive reports for government bodies and presented her findings and recommendations to stakeholders, including government agencies, industry representatives, scientific communities, and the public. These contributions have informed policy discussions at various levels of government. In 2024, Soma started her doctoral research at the Yale School of Public Health. Her extensive multidisciplinary experience in microplastics research and expertise in policy analysis and knowledge translation form the foundation of her doctoral work. Her nuanced understanding of the critical knowledge gaps in microplastics exposure assessment and their implications for human health and public policy positioned her as a valuable addition to the YSPH community. As part of her research exploring the links between airborne pollutant exposures and climate change, Soma is currently a Fellow of the Yale Center on Climate Change and Health where she is undertaking a pilot study to characterize human exposures in wildfire events in urban areas. With support from the Yuet Mei Chin Innovation Fund, she aims to comprehensively analyze microplastics and their chemical degradation products before, during, and after wildfire events and evaluate their toxicological relevance. Given the increasing incidence of wildfires due to climate change, her work will provide insights into the health impacts of these extreme events and contribute to the development of targeted intervention strategies and solutions.

Dr. Chen has a broad background in environmental genetics and molecular toxicology, with specific training and expertise in redox biology, oxidative stress related diseases, and transgenic mouse models of redox dysregulation. Her research over the past ten years utilizes unique animal models and applies the system biology approach integrating multi-omics data and histopathology to understand the mechanistic roles of redox homeostasis in disease conditions related to environmental and dietary exposures. How does redox-elicited modifications of the liver proteome tune cellular response to protect against alcohol-associated fatty liver disease?Does oxidative stress play a mutagenic role in emerging water contaminant 1,4-dioxane-induced liver cancerWhat is the functional crosstalk between antioxidants in the central nervous system as they relate to neuronal health and disease?What is the translational importance of these new knowledge in risk assessment, disease prevention and treatment?

Athina Lisgara is a second-year Ph.D. student in Environmental Health Sciences at Yale School of Public Health. She earned her integrated Master's Degree in Environmental Engineering from University of Patras in Greece, focusing on Environmental Toxicology. For her Ph.D., she uses MALDI imaging mass spectrometry (MALDI MSI) for bottom-up proteomics to study neurodegenerative diseases in the brain. She also explores liver disease by developing novel metabolomic workflows coupled with MALDI MSI and applying deep learning techniques. Athina actively volunteers with Greek Women in STEM and the Yale Undergraduate Mentorship Program.

Xiuqi Ma is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut. Ms. Ma graduated from Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, with a bachelor’s degree in medicine in 2019. Her undergraduate research focused on evaluation of environmental contaminants in the Yangtze River in Wuhan and associated reproductive health effects of metal pollutants among male residents. Now she is investigating ubiquitous environmental pollutants, such as PFAS and air pollution, and their association with liver cancer and other outcomes.