Joelle Wolstein, PhD, MPP, MA, is a research scientist at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. Her research focuses on the social and environmental factors related to obesity, dietary behavior, physical activity, and chronic conditions, such as diabetes and asthma. She has also studied disparities in health outcomes.    

Wolstein worked at the Center for five years during her doctoral studies. Prior to working at the Center, she worked on the UCLA/RAND evaluation team for Transforming Care at the Bedside, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded study of processes, innovations and vitality among hospital unit nurses. She also served as a health educator for a National Cancer Institute pilot study aimed at improving overall health by decreasing sedentary activity and improving diet. Wolstein also worked as a public policy intern for the City of Los Angeles, where she developed an evaluation plan for the city's Child Nutrition Policy, which requires departments and programs serving youth to offer more nutritious foods.    

Wolstein earned her PhD in health services from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and wrote her dissertation on different aspects of the food environment with a focus on farmers' markets. She received her master of public policy degree and master of arts in Latin American Studies at UCLA and her undergraduate degree in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and English at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.