The
Introducing the Little Things Matter Team
We are Little Things Matter; an international team of scientists, researchers, physicians, graduate students, public health practitioners, and advocates. We translate children’s environmental health science for mass media consumption into free, easy-to-understand materials, to spread awareness about the effects of toxic chemicals on the health of populations and the planet.
Kam Sripada, PhD
Neuroscientist and LTM Content Maven, Norway
Kam’s work aims to bridge neurodevelopment and environmental exposures in light of social inequalities globally especially in children who face biological, social, and environmental risks in early life. “Pollution is an underestimated threat to children’s brain development and a violation of every child’s right to a safe and healthy environment.”
Bruce Lanphear, MD, MPH
SFU Professor of Health Sciences
Prevention Wizard, Canada
Bruce has been studying environmental exposures like lead and other toxic chemicals for the past 30 years. His work focuses on the impacts of fetal and early childhood exposure to environmental toxic chemicals, including pesticides. He is a champion for the power of prevention to manage the pandemic of chronic disease that is due to the widespread exposure of toxic chemicals and pollutants.
Rivka Green
LTM Pediatric Protector, Canada
Rivka is a doctoral student studying clinical developmental neuropsychology at York University in Toronto. Together with her knowledge translation efforts she is applying her research and clinical backgrounds to optimize child health outcomes before insult occurs.
Bob Lanphear
Creative Force and Media Maestro, USA
Bob is a true advocate for the time-tested wisdom that a picture is worth a 1000 words. He believes that we learn faster and retain information better through visualization. For over 30 years he has been melding artistry and technology, crafting compelling visual narratives that catalyze change in the world. Follow us on any of Little Things Matter‘s social media channels and see how it works.
Maria Jose Talayero
Physician, Mexico
Maria Jose is a doctoral candidate at the George Washington University in Washington DC. She was born and raised in Mexico City where she was a physician. She practiced primary care and realized how neglected environmental health was in the medical field so she decided to switch careers and got her Masters in Toxicology at Columbia University. Her research focuses on environmental justice in Mexico identifying critical locations of toxic exposures in the country. She is eager to raise awareness regarding environmental exposures. When she is not doing research she enjoys cooking, painting, and doing arts and crafts.
Samer Rihadi
LTM Communications, Canada
Samer is a 1st-year Master of Public Health student at Simon Fraser University. He is interested in environmental and oral health and plans to study dentistry after finishing his Masters. Samer is passionate about making meaningful change in his community. He loves exploring new restaurants, hiking with friends and holds the self-acclaimed award for the lamest jokes on the entire west coast.
Carly Goodman
LTM Communications, Canada
Carly is a Masters student studying clinical-developmental psychology at York University in Toronto. She is interested in the relationship between maternal and child health with a focus on the impact of prenatal environmental exposures on children’s brain development. When not in school, Carly loves to travel, do yoga and bake.
Jessica Lightfoot
Optimistic Mom and Ad Woman, USA
Jessica joined Little Things Matter while completing her Master of Public Health (MPH) at USC’s Keck School of Medicine. She brings professional experience in mass communication, advertising, and museum exhibits. Her goal is to educate the public about hidden health risks as well as provide tips for creating a healthy home. Jessica wants everyone to know that dust is not just something in grandmother’s closet, but a cocktail of toxic chemical components.
Jessica imagines a world with clean air, clean water, and accessible organic fruits and vegetables. She dreams of a world where Government and Industry take responsibility for cleaning up environmental resources and big pharma isn’t the only solution in town.
You can find her wet cleaning her apartment and working on her side project, 52 Pick-Up.
Eloise Stockton-Thomas
Intern and Content Queen , Canada
Eloise is a student in health sciences at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. She firmly believes that knowledge is power and that all parents should be informed about the risks our current climate poses to their children. Eloise aspires to become a pediatrician and positively impact children through medicine. In her free time, she enjoys reading, creative writing, art, and dancing.
Cecilia Alcala, PhD, MPH
Health & Wellness Enthusiast , USA
Cecilia is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Environmental Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, NY. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, to immigrant parents from Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago. She is no stranger to the health care system; at birth, she was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot.
As a child, Cecilia had pediatric cardiology follow-ups which sparked her interest in understanding the origins of disease. She learned about the importance of health, research, cardiology, and of course the main question, “How did she get this condition, when no one in her family has ever had heart disease?” Her cardiologist explained that multiple factors led to her condition, including the environment and genetics, but they couldn’t answer my question. Growing up in Brooklyn, Cecilia saw how low-income minority communities were disproportionally impacted by lack of green spaces, food deserts and toxic chemicals. Her research is focused on how chemical and non- chemical stressors cause respiratory disease in children. Due to her experience with chronic health conditions and the complexity of the healthcare system, she wants to develop effective translation strategies to improve children’s health, especially underserved children.
In her spare time, Cecilia is a Spin Instructor at Spiked Spin & Wellness Co., helping her clients become the healthiest and best versions of themselves, while encompassing all components of wellness. She also enjoys traveling to new countries, and immersing herself into the various cultures through food.
Galilee Mengesha
LTM Communications Intern , USA
Galilee is an undergraduate student in neuroscience on a pre-medicine track at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. Galilee, who was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, grew up in a multicultural household that celebrates diversity and heritage.
Galiliee is learning about toxic chemicals hidden in our foods, the air we breathe, and even the clothes we wear. She creates posts for Little Things Matter to help people learn about the impact of toxic chemicals, especially for people with limited access to this information.
When Galilee is not in class, she likes to cook, exercise, or find cute cafes in the L.A. area!
Rafael Buralli, MSc, PhD
LTM , Brazil
Rafael is a Brazilian scientist who is curious about everything that impacts people’s health.
“As a child in a small town in the Brazilian Amazon, I watched gold miners melting mercury in the rivers and children getting sick from the forest burning in the dry season without realizing that those situations were sparking my interest in public health.”
During my Master’s and Doctorate at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, I joined a multidisciplinary team to investigate the health effects of environmental and occupational exposure to pesticides on family farms. I realized that the entire family members was involved in cultivation, but women and children were the most vulnerable. As a visiting student at the Center for Environmental Research and Children’s Health (CERCH) at UC Berkeley, I saw firsthand the power of participatory research to protect children’s health.
Currently, I am a technical consultant for the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) at the General Coordination of Occupational Health Surveillance of the Brazilian Ministry of Health (CGSAT/SVS/MS) and work on diverse themes and political agendas related to environmental and occupational health. I enjoy collaborating with international teams to solve problems more effectively. Even so, I am still trying to figure out the best ways to promote inclusive, equitable, and long-lasting societal changes.
I believe policies are essential, and people’s power and commitment can change our daily lives. For that, scientific knowledge must go beyond the scientific articles and reach people to make a real impact. Social engagement and access to trustable information are critical. This is why I am so excited about working with Little Things Matter.
In my spare time, you can find me backpacking, hiking or chilling around.
Dr. Yoshira “Yoshi” Ornelas Van Horne
Sci-Com Enthusiast , USA
Dr. Yoshira Ornelas Van Horne is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Yoshira, the first Latina to receive a Ph.D. in Environmental Health Sciences from the University of Arizona, is an alumna of the Agents of Change in Environmental Justice Fellowship.
Yoshira’s research focuses on addressing unequal exposures to harmful contaminants that affect structurally marginalized communities. Yorisha is investigating the combined impact of pesticides and dust exposures on respiratory health of children of the Imperial Valley in California, USA. She is committed to building health equity through community-driven research and is passionate about research translation and communication.
In her spare time, she enjoys going on extended walks with her adorable maltee-poo, Ajax and perfecting espresso shots.
Dr. Marcela Tamayo-Ortiz
Early Life Exposure Investigator, Mexico
Dr. Marcela Tamayo-Ortiz was born and raised in Mexico City, a place well known for being one of the biggest and most populated and polluted by both chemical and non-chemical exposures in Latin America (LA). After working as a product designer with traditional artisans in rural Mexico who use lead to glaze their beautiful ceramics, in 2005 Marcela began her journey as an environmental and occupational epidemiologist. Her work has focused on early-life exposures and children’s and maternal health collaborating with international interdisciplinary teams.
Since 2020 she heads the occupational health research unit at the Mexican Social Security Institute, the largest health care provider in LA. She is committed to help translate scientific and epidemiology findings to clear and effective messages everyone can understand and that can help adopt change. There is nothing Marcela enjoys more than spending time with her family and friends, listening to classical music and swimming laps in the mornings.
Allya Da Costa
Passionate About Prevention , Canada
Allya is an Honours psychology student at York University in Toronto. She is passionate about children’s environmental health and hopes to foster collaborations that focus on increasing awareness of the prevalence and effects of toxic chemicals in the environment. Allya recognizes that prevention efforts are paramount to protecting children against the effects of toxic chemicals and is working on research projects related to prevention, specifically in regards to the effects of toxic chemicals on the developing brain.
During her spare time, Allya loves exploring nature, watching psychological thrillers, and spending time with loved ones (i.e., humans and dogs alike)!
Dr. Lesliam Quirós-Alcalá, PhD, MSc
Vulnerable Populations and EJ Warrior, Mexico
Lesliam Quirós-Alcalá is an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering. As an exposure scientist and environmental epidemiologist, Dr. Quirós-Alcalá conducts translational exposure science research to better understand exposure-response relationships.
Her research focuses on characterizing environmental exposures to endocrine disrupting agents and examining their potential health risks on highly vulnerable, low-income, and marginalized populations historically underrepresented and understudied in public health research, including occupational populations, pregnant women and women of reproductive age, and children. The goal of her research is to inform the development of public health policies and practices and to identify potential interventions that aim to reduce environmental exposures and eliminate health disparities in overburdened populations. She studies the role of chemicals in consumer products (flame retardants, pesticides, phthalates, phenols) on children’s health and, more recently, has been working in community-engaged research to assess occupational exposures to endocrine disruptors and their potential effects on women’s reproductive health.
In 2019, Dr. Quirós-Alcalá was recognized with the International Society of Exposure Science Joan Daisy Young Exposure Scientist Award and currently serves as a Commissioner in the Maryland Governor’s Commission on Environmental Justice and Sustainability Communities. She was also selected to serve in the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Board of Scientific Counselors, a federal advisory committee created to provide advice and guidance to the Director of NIOSH.
She received her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering and her Master of Science degree in Safety Engineering and Industrial Hygiene from Texas A&M University. After working at a national laboratory, she pursued her PhD from the University of California at Berkeley in Environmental Health Sciences. She has worked in industry, government, and academia.
Sophie Factor
Canada
Sophie is currently a fourth year student getting her BSc and honours specialization in Kinesiology at Western university while being apart of the LTM team as an intern. As she continues to grow academically and professionally she hopes to make significant contribution to the broader field of health care and pursue a career in medicine.”