Kristina Mena

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About

Kristina D. (Crabtree) Mena, MSPH, PhD is the El Paso Campus Dean of UT-Houston School of Public Health. She is Professor and Program Head of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences. Dr. Mena earned a BA in Biology at Franklin College (Indiana), a MSPH at the University of South Florida, a PhD in environmental microbiology at The University of Arizona, and completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Kansas State University. Dr. Mena has over 30 years of experience addressing disease transmission through water and food using risk assessment and epidemiological studies. She conducted the risk assessment that informed mitigation strategies for athletes competing in water at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. She is currently evaluating the health risks of children playing on beaches impacted by oil spills. In addition, she is designing a health risk-based mechanism for NASA that will allow flight crew to grow food in space. Dr. Mena was re-appointed by former USEPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to serve second terms on both the USEPA Chartered Science Advisory Board and the USEPA Drinking Water Committee. (She was first appointed by former USEPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.) She is also an Expert Panelist for the National Water Research Institute. Further, Dr. Mena is Chair of the El Paso Public Service Board, and a member of the University Medical Center Board of Managers.

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Research Interests

• Border Health
• Cardiovascular and Chronic Diseases
• Environmental and Occupational Health
• Epidemiology
• Global Health
• Health Equity
• Infectious Disease