Health

Ph.D. Student Awarded Fellowship to Advance Environmental Health and Harmful Algal Bloom Mitigation

December 18, 2025

Collage photo of Black male with dark hair and beard wearing blue and gray long sleeve shirt and photo of campus signage and palm trees.

Public health Ph.D. student Felix Agyemang Opoku has been awarded the UC Global Health Initiative Center for Planetary Health Water and Health Summer Research Fellowship. The research fellowships are designed to provide students with funding to conduct research on water and health. Opoku...

Professor Sandra A. Brown in her office in front of a bookshelf filled with books.

Pellissier Speaker to Discuss Substance Abuse and the Adolescent Brain

California’s recent legalization of recreational marijuana and the nation’s ongoing opioid crisis have many parents worried that their own teenagers might succumb to the temptations of...

Alum Wins Opportunity to Pitch at Venture Summit

UC Merced alumnus Michael Urner is one of five finalists in the University of California new “I am a UC Entrepreneur” contest. Urner was selected from a pool of 169 contestants...

Five Students Score Big at SACNAS Conference

Five UC Merced students brought home awards for their research at this year’s Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) Diversity in STEM conference...

A man in a blue button-down shirt stands on a balcony in front of a concrete wall.

Prestigious Fellowship Furthers Grad Student’s Asthma Research

Very few people will admit to an abiding love of statistics. But Emanuel Alcala, a second-year public health doctoral student, believes statistics are key to solving many of the San Joaquin Valley...

Campus Efforts Improve Community’s Access to Healthy Foods

Hunger is a critical issue facing most of the nation and the world, but it’s even closer to home than some might think. At UC Merced, it's an issue that many students face, and one that...

Free Produce Initiative Launches on World Food Day

UC Merced will celebrate World Food Day with its first Pop-up Produce program from 10 a.m. to 2 pm. Oct. 16 on Scholars Lane. The Pop-up Produce event provides students with free, local and organic...

Five students gathered around a table in front of a large glass building. The two students in the foreground are facing each other, with one holding an iPad and the other interacting with the iPad's screen.

Growing Public Health Program Launches Standalone Ph.D.

UC Merced recently launched a new standalone Ph.D. program in Public Health, further establishing the university’s commitment to educating the next generation of scholars who are addressing the...

Ten students in entering SJV PRIME class pose in front of a conference room at the University of California, Merced.

New PRIME Cohort Aims to Bridge Valley’s Health Divide

Established in 2011, the San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical Education (SJV PRIME) pools resources from UC Merced, the UC Davis School of Medicine, and UCSF Fresno to recruit and train future...

Immigration Status Has Health Implications for Young Latinos, Study Shows

Young undocumented Latinos who gain legal status, even on a temporary basis, experience significant positive effects on their psychological well-being, according to a new study published in the...