UNLV School of Public Health

05/14/2026

Our students are changing the world and helping Clark County residents get outside 🌏

As part of her Active Transport class, Clarisse Andrada was just one of the UNLV School of Public Health students dispatched to help the Southern Nevada Health District Get Healthy Clark County team with their Neon to Nature app.

The app helps residents discover walking and bike trails in their neighborhood. But, with over 1,000 miles of trails in the valley, information about the trails can become outdated.

That’s where our students come in.

Read more about the program, and about our students' contributions, here:

Through a public health class project tied to the Neon to Nature app, students are updating outdoor route information across the valley.

05/08/2026

UNLV School of Public Health is changing the world 🥇

Last week we honored our outstanding students, faculty and community partners at our annual awards ceremony. We distributed scholarships and honored the best in teaching, research and community impact.

Thank you to everyone involved for changing our world 🌍

04/29/2026

Dr. Ying Guo is changing the world 🌎

Through a partnership with Boys Town Nevada, Guo is evaluating how the nonprofit child and family service organization works to improve the lives of at-risk students in Clark County schools.

In a district that has struggled with issues like violence in schools and a high rate of students chronically missing classes, LIFT seeks to intervene in the lives of students before they suffer mental and behavioral health challenges or experience problems like abusing substances.

"I do not want my research to decorate bookshelves,” she says, instead hoping that what she accomplishes will have a real-world impact and contribute to safe, healthy, and happy lives for children and families.

Read the full story about Dr. Guo's research here:

Ying Guo, 2026 Community-Based Research Award recipient, works with Boys Town Nevada to improve support systems available for Clark County children and families.

04/24/2026

Mild winter temperatures brought mosquito season ahead of schedule, and the early start could signal a record-breaking year for mosquito activity and a greater risk for West Nile virus transmission across southern Nevada.

Louisa Messenger, a professor at the UNLV School of Public Health and director of the UNLV Parasitology and Vector Biology Laboratory has more with FOX5 Las Vegas.

Full story here:

Researchers at the UNLV mosquito lab started trapping and studying mosquitoes early this year.

04/17/2026

Our faculty are changing the world 🌎

Congratulations to the five members of our UNLV School of Public Health faculty who recently received tenure and promotion:

🌟 Gabriela Buccini, Ph.D., M.S., IBCLC, Dept. of Social and Behavioral Health
🌟 Timothy Grigsby, Ph.D., Dept. of Social and Behavioral Health
🌟 Erika Marquez, Ph.D., MPH, Dept. of Environmental and Global Health
🌟 Lung-Wen Chen, Ph.D., Dept. of Environmental and Global Health
🌟 Sheila Janofsky, Ph.D., Dept. of Environmental and Global Health

The tenure and/or promotion approvals were issued by by the Board of Regents during their quarterly meeting on March 5-6 and mark a significant milestone in each faculty member's professional journey, reflecting years of dedication to innovative research, excellence in teaching, and meaningful service to our community.

Thank you for changing our world! 🌏

04/14/2026

Our faculty and students are changing the world 🌍

Dr. Erika Marquez, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Global Health, and Ph.D. candidate Laurencia Bonsu visited Ghana in November to conduct hands-on field work on how heavy metal contamination impacts nearby drinking water sources 🇬🇭

To further explore this connection, they collected and tested water from 40 local boreholes to better understand exposure risk and what it means for community health.

A special shoutout to the faculty and students at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technlogy, their partners at Pure Earth Ghana, and the local community members who generously shared their time and knowledge 🤝

04/02/2026

Working together is public health 💜

Last week we honored the winners of the CareSource Foundation Health Innovation Grant Challenge, which will support Nevada nonprofits and research focused on key community health priorities.

Backed by a $300,000 investment from the CareSource Foundation, the winners will support Nevada nonprofits making a difference in three areas:

🤰 Maternal and child health
💉 Immunization awareness and confidence
🍎 Health-related social needs

We spoke to one of the winners and one of our faculty leads on the challenge about the impact this will have on the health of Nevadans.

Thank you to CareSource of Nevada for changing our world! 🌎

03/23/2026

Amanda Morgan is changing the world 🌎

Morgan is a Professor-in-Residence at UNLV School of Public Health who has taught human s*xuality to more than 4,000 students at UNLV.

"We do live in a world that doesn’t really encourage people to feel good about themselves," she says. "I want to change that. I want my students to leave my class feeling better about themselves."

We talked to her about using humor and puppets to teach about s*x, how social media has changed the way students interact with each other, and why she always has a flower in her hair.

Read the full interview here:

The UNLV alumna-turned-professor has taught thousands of students about their bodies and how to keep themselves safe.

03/20/2026

NVax, a new coalition under the UNLV School of Public Health, is working to address gaps in vaccination rates across Nevada.

Epidemiologist Dr. Brian Labus said misinformation about vaccines have led to an increase in the number of families requesting vaccination exemptions. Childhood immunization rates are decreasing, putting the state at risk for things like measles outbreaks.

“This is something we need in the state of Nevada because we are at the top of every bad list and the bottom of every good list when it comes to immunizations,” he said. “So we have a lot of opportunities to improve things here in Nevada.”

Read more at 8 News Now:

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A newly formed coalition, NVax, is working to address gaps in vaccination rates across Nevada. The initiative falls under UNLV’s School of Public Health and is spearheaded …

03/18/2026

Earlier this week, the Mountain West Clinical & Translational Research Infrastructure Network held its annual meeting at the Vdara on the Las Vegas Strip.

The network supports pilot projects, fosters mentorship, and builds collaborative partnerships among institutions across the Mountain West in order to advance discoveries that address pressing health challenges in our diverse communities. Their annual meeting provides an important opportunity for investigators, trainees, and partners to share their research, exchange ideas, and build collaborations that will drive the next generation of scientific progress.

The theme of this year's meeting was "Bench to Bedside to Community: Accelerating Impact Across the Translational Research Spectrum," highlighting the essential pathway through which scientific discovery advances into meaningful improvements in health.

Thank you to all of the members and community partners who attended!