Public Health Students Present at Conference in Germany

This Fall the MeSA lab took graduate and undergraduate public health students to present three posters at The 2026 International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology 56th Annual Meeting (ISPNE) in Erlangen, Germany. This caps off a huge milestone: the completion of baseline data collection for the Allostatic Load in Los Angeles Youth (ALLY) study (NIH, PI: Toledo-Corral). Breana Aceituno (student in MPH program) presented a flash-talk and poster: “Beyond Words: Examining the Relationship Between Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions and Allostatic Load.” Co-authors included Agatha Santos (CSUN MPH graduate), Joshua Vazquez (CSUN Biology major, PH minor), Dhnzl Ocampo (PH major), and Dr. Angel Arizpe (CSUN MPH graduate). Breana did a stellar job and was awarded one of four PNEC Journal Poster Awards during the closing ceremony. Additionally, our poster on “The Role of Sleep Health on Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR) in Young Adults” was first-authored by Dr. Evelyn Sarsar (post-doc) but presented at the conference by our two talented undergraduate researchers and student project coordinators, Joshua Vazquez and Dhnzl Ocampo. Our MeSA lab alumnus, Dr. Angel Arizpe, also presented “Stress that Sticks: Adverse Childhood Events (ACEs) and Allostatic Load in Young Adults.” The students gained valuable experience in international multidisciplinary research spanning endocrinology, neuroscience, psychology, and public health.