Andrea De Vizcaya Ruiz recently moved to California from Mexico City to work as an Associate Professor at the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health in the Program of Public Health at UCI. Andrea De Vizcaya-Ruiz is an award-winning expert in environmental toxicology whose research focuses on the toxicity effects of air pollutants, particulate matter, and chemicals on the human body. With more than 20 years of experience as a Toxicologist, mainly using laboratory experimental models, she assesses different physiological responses – from tissue injury and inflammation to oxidative stress – that arise after the inhalation exposure to different environmental and occupational hazards to establish how exposure can cause disease.
Andrea De Vizcaya Ruiz graduated in Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and has a PhD in Toxicology from the University of Surrey, in England. She later joined and worked at the Department of Toxicology at the Research Center for Advanced Studies (Cinvestav) for 20 years, before joining the University of California at Irvine.
In addition to her role as Associate Professor, De Vizcaya-Ruiz also participates in several research initiatives across the University of California. These include the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH), the Air Pollution Health Effects Lab (APHEL), and UCI Atmospheric Integrated Research unit (AirUCI). She is the DECADE Mentor for the Program of Public Health, with the commitment to foster an inclusive environment within UCI’s graduate programs to promote diversity within the graduate student population campuswide.
She is excited to be a part of the GREEN Programs bringing her expertise in environmental toxicology to serve for the well-being of the community residents and the City of Santa Ana, through developing and strengthening programs, and as a liaison between UCI and up and coming STEM researchers.