Yvette Gonzalez

Profile summary

Yvette Gonzalez, MPH, a descendant of Nahua/Mexica (also referred to as Aztec) ancestors, is a Visiting Researcher at the University of Plymouth (UoP) Faculty of Health and a Spaceflight/Bioastronautics Researcher. She is an External Collaborator with the Space Omics and Medical Atlas team and a member of two Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) Analysis Working Groups: Multi-Omics and Female Reproduction.

She contributes to the NSF-funded “Supporting and Empowering Polar Early Career Scientists through the Polar Science Early Career Community Office” led by the University of Colorado at Boulder for her climate research in the polar regions, which works to engage marginalized communities and inform adaptive and resilience strategies that shape policies.

She is certified with the NASA CITI Biomedical Research Basic/Refresher Course - Human Subjects Research and certified with UoP for General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Information Security. In 2023 she served as Research Lead and Crew for the first-ever space research caving analog in Portugal, CAMões, supporting a suite of human health experiments for the UoP Dental School, Centre for Eyecare Excellence, and Brain Research & Imaging Centre.

In addition to parabolic flight campaign research, her space medical investigations include contributions to neuroscience, ophthalmologic, and bio-monitoring team experiments on the Axiom-2, Polaris Dawn, and Galactic 05 spaceflight missions. In 2024 her international neuroscience team published their book with Elsevier, Neuroscience Research in Short-Duration Human Spaceflight.

Yvette serves as a Board Member for IndigeSTEAM, an Indigenous-led society supporting Indigenous youth and communities through Two-Eyed Seeing in All Directions which bridges the strength of Indigenous Knowledge and Ways of Knowing with that of Western knowledge systems. She is pioneering research in applied space medical solutions for humanity and progresses this research within the context of international emergency public health, astronaut health, space ecology, and astronautics training.

External positions

Member, American Public Health Association

Advisory Committee, Girl In Space Club

Board Member, IndigeSTEAM

Board Member, Remote Access International

Senior Advisor, SpaceWatch.Global

Member, Women in Aerospace

Member, Women in International Security

Research Interests

Climate resilient buildings and cities
Climate Change
Environmental Sustainability
Disaster Risk Reduction
Atmospheric Science
Human Health
Public Health
Ecological systems
Biomedical Sciences
Human Factors
Indigenous Health Systems
Indigenous Knowledge
Indigenous Research Methodologies
Equity
Indigenous Equity

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):