Headshot of Dr.Hemali H. Oza

Dr. Hemali H. Oza

Assistant Professor of Health Studies
Curriculum Vitae

  • Profile

    Hemali Oza is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Studies at the University of Richmond. She earned her PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and holds both a master’s and bachelor’s degree in environmental science and engineering from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

    Her work explores how environmental challenges—like climate change, flooding, droughts, and water contamination—affect public health, especially in communities facing social or environmental challenges. She studies how to build household and community resilience through locally driven solutions, nature-based infrastructure, and sustainable water and sanitation systems. She is also deeply engaged in community-based research and science communication, particularly around infectious diseases.

    Oza’s research spans both U.S. and international settings. Recent projects include testing tap water in Atlanta neighborhoods and using wastewater to monitor respiratory disease trends in Georgia. She also conducts research in Kenya, Fiji, and Indonesia around climate resilience to extreme weather events like floods and droughts.

    She takes an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on tools from epidemiology, microbiology, psychometrics, science communication, and public health practice. Oza is especially passionate about collaborating with communities and mentoring students through hands-on research that connects science with real-world impacts.

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    • Grants and Fellowships

      NIH/NIGMS U.S. K-12 Institutional Research Career and Academic Development Award (IRACDA) Emory FIRST Fellowship (2023-2025)

      Diversity in and Equitable Access to Applied Learning in Disaster Research Response (IDEAAL DR2) Fellow (2024-2025)

      NIEHS U.S. T-32 Trainee Fellow (2020-2022)

      Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation Fellow Alumni (2021-2023)

    • Awards

      Herz Global Impact Award Recipient (2021-2023)

    • Presentations

      Oza, H.H, Hilton, S., Boehm, A., & Wolfe, M. “Flushing out the Details: Unraveling Respiratory Virus Dynamics in Atlanta's Wastewater.” Verbal presentation at UNC Water and Health Conference, Chapel Hill, NC Fall 2024.

      Oza, H.H.; Salinger, A.; Taruc, R.; Barker, F.; Leder, K.; Freeman, M.; Clasen, T.; Sinharoy, S.. “Development of Resilience Measurement Tool to Assess the Impact of RISE Interventions on Household and Community Resilience in Informal Settlements.” Poster presentation at the UNC Water and Health Conference, Chapel Hill, NC. Fall 2023.

      Panel Discussion at UNC Chapel Hill Water and Health Conference 2021: Looking Deeper: A research agenda to advance health, safety, and dignity of sanitation workers. Convening Organizations: WHO, WaterAid, ILO, World Bank, SNV, Emory University

      Oza, H.H.; Lee, M.G.; Boisson, S.; Pega, F.; Medlicott, K.; Clasen, T. “Occupational Health Outcomes among Sanitation Workers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Poster presentation at the UNC Water and Health Conference, Chapel Hill, NC. Fall 2020.

      Oza, H.H.; Holmes, E.B.; Miller, M.; Lafontaine, S.; Patel, S.; Edward, B.; Coleman, C.K.; Sobsey, M.D. “Evaluation of chitosan as a transformative coagulant-flocculant to improve cloth and sand filter drinking water treatment.” Poster presentation (presented by Sobsey, M.D.) at the International Water Association Conference, Geneva, Switzerland. Fall 2019.

      Oza, H.H.; Holmes, E.B.; Sobsey, M.D. “Physical characterization of chitosan flocs during coagulation-flocculation procedures using a particle size analyzer.” Poster presentation at the UNC Water Microbiology Conference, Chapel Hill, NC. Spring 2019.

      Lafontaine, S.*; Patel, S.*; Oza, H.H.; Holmes, E.B.; Sobsey, M.D. “Microbial reductions from water using chitosan and cloth filtration.” Poster presentation at the UNC Water Microbiology Conference, Chapel Hill, NC. Spring 2019.

      Oza, H.H.; Fisher, M.B.; Cronk, R. “The Causes and Consequences of Inadequate Environmental Health Conditions in Maternity Wards in Health Care Facilities in Malawi.” Verbal presentation at the UNC Water and Health Conference, Chapel Hill, NC. Fall 2018.

      Holmes, E.B.*; Coleman, C.K.; Oza, H.H.; Sobsey, M.D. “Summary of work with chitosan and various filtration technologies” Side event verbal presentation at the UNC Water and Health Conference, Chapel Hill, NC. Fall 2018.

      Oza, H.H.; Holmes, E.B.; Coleman, C.K.; Abebe, L.; Sobsey, M.D. “Microbial and turbidity removal by chitosan coagulation in natural waters to optimize cloth water filtration for household drinking water treatment.” Verbal presentation at the UNC Water Microbiology Conference, Chapel Hill, NC. Spring 2018.

      Oza, H.H.; Holmes, E.B.; Coleman, C.K.; Abebe, L.; Sobsey, M.D. “Microbial and turbidity removal by chitosan coagulation in natural waters to optimize saree cloth water filtration for household drinking water treatment.” Poster presentation at UNC Water Microbiology Conference, Chapel Hill, NC. Spring 2017.

      Oza, H.H.; Bailey, E.; Sobsey, M.D. “Identifying presumptive positive colonies of Salmonella spp. In raw sewage, reclaimed, and surface water sources.” Poster presentation at the SMART Fellow Symposium, Chapel Hill, NC. Summer 2015.

  • Publications
    Journal Articles

    Oza, H. H., Salinger, A. P., Taruc, R., Tela, A., Barker, S. F., Leder, K., Freeman, M. C., Clasen, T., & Sinharoy, S. S. (2025). Resilience measurement for environmental shocks and stressors: scale development and psychometric assessment for coastal urban informal settlements in Fiji and Indonesia. BMC global and public health, 3(1), 61. https://doi.org/10.1186/s44263-025-00177-3

    Oza, H. H., Nanavati, A., Clasen, T., Salinger, A. P., Freeman, M., & Sinharoy, S. (2025). A Critical Review on Measurement Tools of Urban Household and Community Resilience to Disasters and Environmental Shocks and Stressors among Low-and Middle-Income Countries: Theory, Application, and Guidance. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 105267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2025.105267

    Hubbard, S., Wolf, J., Oza, H. H., Arnold, B. F., Freeman, M. C., & Levy, K. (2025). Differential Effectiveness of Water, Sanitation, and Handwashing Interventions to Reduce Child Diarrhea in Dry and Rainy Seasons: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Intervention Trials. Environmental health perspectives, 133(2), 26001. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP14502

    Coleman, C.K.; Oza, H.H.; Bailey, E.S.; Sobsey, M.D. A Review of Chitosan as a Coagulant of Health-Related Microorganisms in Water and Wastewater. Environments 2024, 11, 211. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments11100211

    Holmes, E. B., Oza, H. H., Bailey, E. S., & Sobsey, M. D. (2023). Evaluation of Chitosans as Coagulants-Flocculants to Improve Sand Filtration for Drinking Water Treatment. International journal of molecular sciences, 24(2), 1295. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24021295

    Oza, H. H., Holmes, E. B., Bailey, E. S., Coleman, C. K., & Sobsey, M. D. (2022). Microbial reductions and physical characterization of chitosan flocs when using chitosan acetate as a cloth filter aid in water treatment. PloS one, 17(1), e0262341. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262341

    Oza, H. H.*, Lee, M. G.*, Boisson, S., Pega, F., Medlicott, K., & Clasen, T. (2022). Occupational health outcomes among sanitation workers: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, 240, 113907. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheh.2021.113907

    Bailey, E. S., Beetsch, N., Wait, D. A., Oza, H. H., Ronnie, N., & Sobsey, M. D. (2021). Methods, Protocols, Guidance and Standards for Performance Evaluation for Point-of-Use Water Treatment Technologies: History, Current Status, Future Needs and Directions. Water, 13(8), 1094. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13081094

    Coleman, C. K., Mai, E., Miller, M., Sharma, S., Williamson, C., Oza, H., Holmes, E., Lamer, M., Ly, C., Stewart, J., Sobsey, M. D., & Abebe, L. S. (2021). Chitosan Coagulation Pretreatment to Enhance Ceramic Water Filtration for Household Water Treatment. International journal of molecular sciences, 22(18), 9736. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22189736

    Oza, H. H., Fisher, M. B., Abebe, L., Cronk, R., McCord, R., Reuland, F., Behnke, N., Kafanikhale, H., Mofolo, I., Hoffman, I., & Bartram, J. (2020). Application of tools to monitor environmental conditions, identify exposures, and inform decision-making to improve infection prevention and control practices in Malawian maternity wards. Environmental monitoring and assessment, 192(2), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-8089-5