Early Career Fellow

Outstanding Science & Engineering Early Career Alumni Award

2014

Australian Institute of Marine Science & James Cook University

University Dean's Scholar

Coastal urbanization influences human pathogens and microdebris contamination in seafood

Science-based solutions to plastic pollution

Plastics and Shallow Water Coral Reefs: Synthesis of the Science for Policy-Makers,

Social–environmental drivers inform strategic management of coral reefs in the Anthropocene

Reduced diversity and stability of coral-associated bacterial communities and suppressed immune function precedes disease onset in corals

In 1965, the University of California, Irvine was founded with a mission to catalyze the community and enhance lives through rigorous academics, cutting-edge research, and dedicated public service. Today, we draw on the unyielding spirit of our pioneering faculty, staff and students who arrived on campus with a dream to inspire change and generate new ideas. We believe that true progress is made when different perspectives come together to advance our understanding of the world around us. And we enlighten our communities and point the way to a better future. At UCI, we shine brighter.

UC Irvine

Dr. Joleah Lamb is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Irvine where she leads the UCI Healthy Oceans and People Laboratory, an innovative and interdisciplinary research program that aims to benefit ecosystems and the services they provide to society.
 
Worldwide media attention associated with her research on disease outbreaks in the ocean has generated over 1,200 popular articles, documentaries and podcasts, including The New York Times, National Geographic, The Atlantic, New Scientist, Time, The Economist and Scientific American. Lamb is a science-based policy co-author on human-driven impacts on coral reefs for the UN Environmental Programme and co-author of the new chapter on conservation biology and global change for the 12th edition of Campbell Biology, a widely used university-level biology textbooks. She serves on numerous international working groups, including the IUCN and UN FAO committee on sustainable aquaculture and food systems, NASA program on ecological forecasting of ocean disease outbreaks and the World Bank initiative to value coral reef and related ecosystem services to support human livelihoods in developing regions.

Lamb ignited a new field of study with her discovery that plastic waste is a 21st-century vessel for disease transmission in the ocean (Lamb et al. 2018, Science). This finding brought attention to plastic as an emerging threat and sparked an entirely new field bridging medicine and human health, biosecurity, conservation, engineering and materials science. Lamb also uncovered a groundbreaking ecosystem function for seagrass, revealing its use as a natural buffer for human pathogen removal for coastal communities with limited wastewater infrastructure (Lamb et al. 2017, Science). Her research provides evidence and the data needed to inform critical environmental policy decisions. 

Lamb is a rising thinker in the integration of public and ecosystem health systems. For outstanding contributions to transformative solutions-based research, communication and service in this field, Lamb was selected as a nominee for the 2020 Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius, an international recognition for environmental innovators and problem-solvers that range from scientists to communicators, sustainable business leaders and economists to social justice advocates under the age of 40. She was also elected as one of eight 2020 Early Career Fellows of the Ecological Society of America.

Coral Reefs Ecosystems

Conservation Biology

Ocean Health

Ocean Pollution

Disease Ecology

Marine Protected Areas

UCI Faculty Profile

Healthy Oceans and People (HOPE) Research Group Website

ORCID Citations

Google Scholar Citations

Researchers discover eelgrass superpower in Puget Sound

Gov. Newsom signs new law taking aim at single-use plastics

The Surprising Scale of the Seagrass Sanitation Service

The thick of it: Delving into the neglected global impacts of human waste

Half of the World’s Coastal Sewage Pollution Flows from Few Dozen Places

Marine researchers focus on the tiniest victims of Orange County oil spill

Wildlife official: 4 oiled birds collected so far in OC spill, 1 euthanized

Assistant Professor, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Assistant Professor Joleah Lamb of UCI BioSci presents at the UCI Brilliant Future Campaign on the links between ocean and human health, and the threats and opportunities for the future.

UCI Brilliant Future Presentation: Dr Joleah Lamb

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