Devesh Vashishtha

Devesh is a family physician and medical director at Family Health Centers of San Diego. He is an advocate for issues related to environmental health, and was one of the founding members of the 2015 Hindu Declaration on Climate Change. As the UC San Diego chapter leader for Student Physicians for Social Responsibility (sPSR), Devesh has advocated in Washington, D.C. for the Clean Power Plan. He also helped start a lecture series on Climate Change and Health at the Institute for Public Health at UC San Diego. Devesh is a clinical researcher, and is currently involved in two research projects related to environmental health. The first is a retrospective study of heat waves and their impact on family medicine clinic visits in San Diego County, and the second is a study of pesticide exposure among children living in agricultural areas in Ecuador. Devesh is a part of the environmental justice movement, which recognizes that the individuals most affected by pollution and environmental hazards are predominantly people of color and the poor, and that this disparity has often been the result of systemic injustices against these marginalized groups. Devesh was born in New York City and spent much of his childhood in Orange County, California. He is an avid student of Vedanta, a Hindu philosophical tradition that presents a means for self-realization. Devesh is also a Carnatic Classical vocal musician and has performed across the US, and in Canada and India. He holds a B.A. in political science from UC San Diego.