About

Jesselle is a 4th year doctoral fellow in the Occupational Epidemiology training program at UC Irvine, where she studies how PFAS exposures accumulates among firefighters through their gear, work environments, and job activities. 

What are your OSH interests/research focus?

My dissertation focuses on quantifying serum PFAS levels in Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) firefighters and separating occupational contributions from background environmental sources using biomonitoring, prediction models, and spatial analysis. Through this work, I aim to clarify how specific firefighting tasks and environments shape PFAS body burden and to support strategies that reduce chemical exposures and cancer risk in the fire service. Led by Dr. Veronica Vieira (UCI), OCFA Fire Captain Biering, and Jesselle, the team recently completed recruitment of more than 1,000 OCFA firefighters for serum PFAS testing as part of the UCI–OCFA Firefighter PFAS Exposure Study.

To learn more about the study, please visit https://sites.uci.edu/firefighterpfas/. 

What is your motivation for being in the field of Public Health/Occupational Health?

I chose occupational health because I wanted my work to support those on the front lines of public safety, including my brother who is a first responder. Collaborating with firefighters and seeing their commitment to their communities motivates me to produce research that reduces harmful exposures and protects their long-term health.

Fun fact or something interesting you'd like to share about yourself: 

Outside of research, I love traveling, trying new restaurants, and spending time with my dog Yukon.