Nicole M. Gatto, PhD, MPH

“I am motivated to drive high-quality, impactful research that will contribute to improving health and preventing disease and disability in diverse populations.”

Nicole M. Gatto, PhD, MPH

Principal Collaborative Scientist, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
Associate Professor, Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
Adjunct Research Assistant Professor, Dept. of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California

Nicole.M.Gatto@kp.org
www.nicolemgatto.com
Linkedin

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Biography

Nicole Gatto is a principal collaborative scientist at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI), where she predominantly works on the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) Study, focusing on the epidemiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Nicole’s research aims to increase our understanding of chronic diseases including neurodegenerative disorders, cardiovascular disease, and cancers. She has studied a broad range of risk and preventive factors including environmental, occupational, lifestyle, physiological, and genetic factors. She has led several funded epidemiologic studies, effectively utilizing data from cross-sectional, case-control, cohort, and experimental studies and applying different analytical approaches in her research.

Nicole earned her Master of Public Health from the Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA and her PhD in epidemiology from the Department of Preventive Medicine at University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. Subsequently, she completed a 3-year post-doctoral fellowship at UCLA in environmental neuroepidemiology as well as a 1-year internship in communicable disease control and prevention at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. She holds certifications in public health, SAS, geographical information science, clinical trials, and college teaching.

Nicole has affiliate faculty appointments at the Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine, University of Southern California, and University of California, Riverside. She is a member of several professional societies, including the Alzheimer’s Association and the American Public Health Association. She serves as a reviewer for prominent public health journals, including Environmental Health Perspectives, Journal of the Neurological Sciences, and Public Health Nutrition.

In 2014, Nicole was a recipient of the Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award, California’s highest environmental honor. In 2020, Nicole was named a Fulbright Scholar and, during 2021, she taught and conducted research at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik. Nicole is also a three-time Fulbright Specialist completing research and teaching projects in the countries of Mongolia, Colombia, and Kazakhstan between 2018 and 2025.

Nicole is inspired by the work of Wangari Maathai, who founded the Green Belt movement in Kenya, and Alice Waters, who created the Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, California.

Areas of research focus

Recent Publications

Gabitto MI, Travaglini KJ, Rachleff VM, Kaplan ES, Long B, Ariza J, Ding Y, Mahoney JT, Dee N, Goldy J, Melief EJ, Brouner K, Campos J, Carr AJ, Casper T, Chakrabarty R, Clark M, Compos J, Cool J, Valera Cuevas NJ, Dalley R, Darvas M, Ding SL, Dolbeare T, Mac Donald CL, Egdorf T, Esposito L, Ferrer R, Gala R, Gary A, Gloe J, Guilford N, Guzman J, Ho W, Jarksy T, Johansen N, Kalmbach BE, Keene LM, Khawand S, Kilgore M, Kirkland A, Kunst M, Lee BR, Malone J, Maltzer Z, Martin N, McCue R, McMillen D, Meyerdierks E, Meyers KP, Mollenkopf T, Montine M, Nolan AL, Nyhus J, Olsen PA, Pacleb M, Pham T, Pom CA, Postupna N, Ruiz A, Schantz AM, Sorensen SA, Staats B, Sullivan M, Sunkin SM, Thompson C, Tieu M, Ting J, Torkelson A, Tran T, Wang MQ, Waters J, Wilson AM, Haynor D, Gatto N, Jayadev S, Mufti S, Ng L, Mukherjee S, Crane PK, Latimer CS, Levi BP, Smith K, Close JL, Miller JA, Hodge RD, Larson EB, Grabowski TJ, Hawrylycz M, Keene CD, Lein ES Integrated multimodal cell atlas of Alzheimer's disease 2023 May 23 doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2921860/v1. Epub 2023-05-23. PubMed

Gatto N, Fruend D, Ogata P, Diaz L, Ibarrola A, Desai M, Aspelund T, Gluckstein D. Correlates of coronavirus disease 2019 inpatient mortality at a Southern California community hospital with a predominantly Hispanic/Latino adult population. Open Forum Infect Dis. 10(1). January 2023, ofad011, https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofad011. PubMed

Gatto NM, Thordardottir EB, Tomasson G, Rúnarsdóttir H, Song H, Jakobsdóttir J, Aspelund T, Valdimarsdóttir UA, Hauksdóttir A. Association between adverse childhood experiences and Multiple Sclerosis in Icelandic women - A population-based cohort study. Brain Sci. 2022, 12(11), 1559; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12111559. PubMed

Gatto NM, Lee J, Massai D, Sasaninia B, Zamarripa S, Khurana D, Michaels K, Freund D, Nightingale J, Firek A. Correlates of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance, hesitancy and refusal among employees of a safety net California county health system with an early and aggressive vaccination program: Results from a cross-sectional survey. Vaccines (Basel). 2021 Oct 9;9(10):1152. doi: 10.3390/vaccines9101152. PubMed

Chipidza W, Akbaripourdibazar E, Gwanzura T, Gatto NM. Topic analysis of traditional and social media news coverage of the early COVID-19 pandemic and implications for public health communication. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2022;16(5):1881-1888. doi: 10.1017/dmp.2021.65. Epub 2021 Mar 3. PubMed