About Thu's Work
Thu Quach received her Ph.D. in Epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley. Her dissertation topic was focused on the health of nail salon workers; she has dedicated over six years of her career focusing on the health and safety of workers in the cosmetology industry. In her current capacity, Dr. Quach is a Research Scientist II with the Cancer Prevention Institute of California (CPIC) and a Consulting Assistant Professor with the Stanford University Department of Health Research & Policy. She has a strong commitment to community-based participatory research, and has worked with different advocacy, environmental and community-based organizations to leverage public health goals that promote the health and well-being of under-served populations. She has spearheaded multiple community-research collaborative projects with Asian Health Services (AHS) and the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative (the Collaborative) focusing on nail salon workers and the Vietnamese population. She managed two pilot studies collecting primary data from nail salon workers, including personal air monitoring measures of exposure to select solvents. Currently, she also manages a large NIH-funded community-research study with AHS and the Collaborative to conduct community mapping of environmental hazards within the Vietnamese populations. In addition to the research studies, she currently chairs the Collaborative’s Research Committee and is a member of its Steering Committee. Furthermore, she is heavily involved in national efforts addressing worker health and safety issues for the nail salon sector.
