Laura is a Ph.D. student in Environmental Health Sciences at UC Berkeley where she studies how biomarkers of mitochondrial dysfunction can shed light on the underpinnings between exposure to social and environmental stressors on atopic disease among children in frontline environmental justice communities. Having grown up in a frontline environmental justice community in the San Francisco Bay Area, her work is centered on combating environmental injustice in partnership with members of her and other frontline communities. She co-founded Partners for Equity and Research at Sonoma State University, a Hispanic Serving Institute, where she trains and supports undergraduate researchers engaging in community-driven environmental justice research. She is also the executive director of the Educator Collective for Environmental Justice (501c3) where she leads educator professional development in environmental justice curriculum development and partners with youth and community to drive environmental and climate justice action.
