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Tanya Alderete

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tanya L. Alderete is an American multidisciplinary environmental and health researcher primarily studying the effects of exposure to pollution on humans.[1][2][3] She is an associate professor at John Hopkins in the department of Environmental Health and Engineering. Her work has been recognized with a mid-career award from the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology.[4][5]

Education and career

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Alderete grew up in California's Central Valley,[2] and was a first generation student.[6] She received a Bachelors of Arts (BA) degree in Biology, Chemistry and Neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania in 2005. In 2014, she received a PhD in Systems Biology of Disease from the University of Southern California,[7] where she continued her studies as a postdoctoral research scholar at Environmental Health Sciences Center through 2018.[8] While there she was co-author of a study that found fructose in breast milk, which correlated to higher infant weight. Since fructose isn't naturally found in breast milk, Alderete and her co-authors theorized it could result from foods with added sugar that mothers consumed and could put their children at risk for obesity later in life.[9]

From August 2018 to April 2024, Alderete held a position as assistant professor of data science and biostatistics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where her studies focused on health disparities in historically underrepresented populations.[2] She then moved to Johns Hopkins University where she is an associate professor in the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and is lead investigator for Eclipse Lab, which studies how environmental exposures contribute to obesity and metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, with the goal of guiding public policies to reduce these harmful exposures.[10] She also co-leads Project 1 of the Southern California Center for Chronic Health Disparities in Latino Families and Children.[10]

Honors and awards

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  • Tony McMichael Mid-Term Career Award from the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (2024)[4][5]
  • Provost Faculty Achievement Award, University of Colorado, Boulder (2023)[4]

References

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  1. ^ Sexton, Chrissy. "Air pollution linked to detrimental changes in gut bacteria". Earth.com. earth.com. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
  2. ^ a b c Abeyta, Michael (4 September 2022). "Raising babies in polluted areas increases allergy, diabetes risk, Colorado study finds - CBS Colorado". CBS News. Retrieved 4 May 2025.
  3. ^ Moran, Susan (30 January 2024). "Tanya Alderete". How On Earth. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
  4. ^ a b c "Tanya Alderete | Johns Hopkins | Bloomberg School of Public Health". publichealth.jhu.edu. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  5. ^ a b "2024 Awardees - International Society for Environmental Epidemiology". iseepi.org. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
  6. ^ "Faculty Spotlight: Tanya L. Alderete, PhD | Johns Hopkins | Bloomberg School of Public Health". publichealth.jhu.edu. 23 December 2024. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
  7. ^ Alderete, Tanya Lynn (2014). Ectopic fat and adipose tissue inflammation in overweight and obese African Americans and Hispanics (PhD thesis). University of Southern California.
  8. ^ "Tanya L. Alderete". Integrative Physiology. University of Colorado. 27 August 2018. Archived from the original on April 17, 2024.
  9. ^ Giordano, Rita (April 23, 2017). "Ingredients-list shock: How sugar can get its hooks in kids". The Philadelphia Inquirer. pp. G1, G7.
  10. ^ a b "Dr. Tanya L. Alderete, Ph.D." Eclipse Lab. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
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