Yu Yu, MD, PhD, is a researcher at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR) and also serves as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Her research focuses on examining how physical environmental exposures—including air pollution, air toxics, noise, extreme heat, and wildfires—as well as social environmental hazards influence chronic diseases, including neurodegenerative conditions and metabolic dysfunction, mental health, and differential burdens across diverse populations. She also investigates how lifestyle and metabolic factors may modify these associations. Her work bridges exposure assessment, environmental epidemiology, spatial and population-based data, and the translation of findings into policy and public health practice.

Yu received her MD in Shanghai, an MS in Environmental Health Sciences from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, a Master of Environmental Science and Management (MESM) from UC Santa Barbara, and a PhD in Epidemiology from UCLA.